T. Belman. That’s a veiled threat. If you go ahead with unilateral Judicial Reform, you can kiss normalization goodbye and forget about cooperation on Iran. The US isn’t about to change her policy on Iran in order to stop Judicial Reform and normalization should help the US too. Either they want it for their own good or not. They will not normalize to do us a favour. The same goes for Saudi Arabia.. Its in their interest to normalize with Israel even if the US doesn’t give them what they are asking for.
Ambassador Tom Nides says he believes Netanyahu would rather focus on normalization with Arab countries than on the judicial reform.
US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides said on Tuesday that he does not believe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will move forward with the entire judicial reform plan unilaterally because the public reaction will be “dramatic”, as he put it.
Nides’ comments were made in a virtual briefing to the Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA). They come after the Knesset resumed the advancement of the government’s planned judicial reforms, a move implemented after the opposition froze the negotiations on the issue that were taking place at the President’s Residence.
Nides said that, while some of Netanyahu’s coalition partners might have other objectives, he does not believe Netanyahu himself wants to move forward with the legislation, and would rather focus on the efforts to counter Iran and achieve normalization agreements with Arab countries.
“I do not believe we’re gonna wake up and they’re gonna do all this legislation unilaterally. I do not believe that will happen. I don’t believe the Prime Minister wants this. This was never, in my humble view, the Prime Minister’s major objective becoming a Prime Minister,” the Ambassador said.
“His coalition partners have a different objective, but I think he himself wants to do big things. He wants to focus on Iran, he wants to focus on normalizing with Saudi Arabia. So my hope is they will not do everything unilaterally. Because I think the reaction here would be quite dramatic,” Nides added.
US officials have repeatedly opined that any changes to the judicial reform in Israel should be implemented with the agreement of both the government and the opposition.
Just last week, a US National Security Council spokesperson said, “The President has said consistently, both privately and publicly, that fundamental reforms like these require a broad basis of support to be durable and sustained, and we hope there will be genuine compromise.”
“Ultimately, it is up to Israelis to find the best path forward.? But as close friends of Israel, we urge them to reach a compromise with the broadest possible base of popular support.? We look forward to working with Israel to advance the interests and democratic values that have been at the heart of our relationship for decades,” added the spokesperson.
President Joe Biden weighed in on the judicial reform in February, telling The New York Times, “The genius of American democracy and Israeli democracy is that they are both built on strong institutions, on checks and balances, on an independent judiciary.”
“Building consensus for fundamental changes is really important to ensure that the people buy into them so they can be sustained,” the President added.
Vice President Kamala Harris later also weighed in on the issue, telling Politico, “As the president has said, an independent judiciary is foundational for a democracy. And I think that there is no question that we need to make sure that that is supported in terms of what we talk about [and] in terms of our values.”
Three weeks ago, Harris again commented on the judicial reform, telling a reception held by the Israeli Embassy in Washington that an independent judiciary was one of the values that have been the bedrock of the US-Israel relationship.
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Nides himself called on Israeli leaders to “pump the brakes” on the judicial reform. This resulted in a back-and-forth with Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli, who responded to Nides in a radio interview and said, “I say to the American ambassador, put on the brakes yourself and mind your own business. You aren’t sovereign here, to get involved in the matter of judicial reform. We will be happy to discuss foreign and security matters with you. But respect our democracy.”
Nides later took a swipe at Chikli, describing him as “an Israeli official that I don’t know”.
@Ted
Yes, I saw that. Given the current situation he has no choice but to do so.
@Peloni
As a further sign of independence, Bibi is visiting China soon. The US can’t be happy.
Bibi should ignore his desire of gaining an alliance with the Saudi’s and act according to the needs and interests of his own people. There is nothing to be gained by sacrifices of sovereignty to gain an ally. This is particularly true of an ally such as the Saudi’s which is actually looking to Israel to provide the strength and leadership with which to defy the Iranian allied interests of the US. Likewise, the Americans can not afford to see Israel become closer allied to either the Russians or the Chinese, even as she is being betrayed by the Americans. Consequently, by demonstrating her independence in the policies of judicial reform and sovereignty, Israel will draw both the Saudi’s and the Americans towards her. Furthermore, by submitting to American domination in matters which are clearly domestic in nature will not only demonstrate weakness in the eyes of the Saudi’s, it will illustrate the captured status with which Israel defines herself in the eyes of the Americans. Neither of these images will serve Israel’s purposes, not in either the near nor distant future as she prepares to face the Iranians.