6 | APRIL 6 • 2023 

1942 - 2023

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PURELY COMMENTARY

analysis
Netanyahu 
Announces Pause 
on Judiciary Reform 
P

rime Minister Benjamin 
Netanyahu announced 
that he would postpone 
a vote on far-reaching reforms 
to the judiciary 
and engage in 
dialogue with 
the opposition, 
yielding to calls 
from hundreds of 
thousands of pro-
testers as well as 
senior members 
of his own party and interna-
tional leaders.
In his televised address, 
Netanyahu cited fears of civil 
war, which Israeli President 
Isaac Herzog had also warned 
of weeks ago.
“I am not ready to tear the 

people into shreds,
” Netanyahu 
said March 27 in remarks 
broadcast just past 8 p.m. Israel 
time. “We are not facing ene-
mies but brothers. I am saying 
now and here, there must not 
be a civil war.
”
He added, “I have decided 
to delay the second and third 
readings of the legislation until 
the Knesset reconvenes” rough-
ly a month from now, at the 
end of April, though it could 
begin later. He said the break 
— which includes the Jewish 
and Israeli holidays of Passover, 
Holocaust Remembrance 
Day, Memorial Day and 
Independence Day — would be 
devoted to dialogue.
Netanyahu’s announcement 

marks a significant victory 
for opponents of the judicial 
reform and heralds a new stage 
in the months-long debate 
over the legislation which, as 
written, would sap the Supreme 
Court of much of its power and 
independence. As it stands, the 
legislation substantially increas-
es government control over 
Supreme Court appointments 
and essentially removes the 
court’s ability to review laws. 
That version of the legislation 
will almost certainly not pass 
now, and leaders of a strike 

called on March 27 to protest 
the reforms called it off imme-
diately after Netanyahu’s speech.
The legislation has been 
controversial ever since it was 
unveiled near the beginning 
of the year, just weeks after 
Netanyahu’s right-wing coali-
tion took office. For months, 
hundreds of thousands of 
Israelis have taken to the streets 
to oppose the proposals, and 
their calls were joined by a cho-
rus of public figures, in Israel 
and abroad, who warned that 
the overhaul would remove 

Ron 
Kampeas
(JTA) 

JAMAL AWAD/FLASH90

Israelis protest against the government’s planned judicial overhaul, 
outside the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, March 27, 2023. 

continued on page 9

