Netanyahu calls judicial overhaul ‘minor correction’ to 'activist' court

By Mahmoud Barakat

ANKARA (AA) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday said his government’s judicial overhaul plan is a "minor correction" to an "activist" court.

"It's described as the end of Israeli democracy -- I think that's silly and when the dust settles, everybody will see it," Netanyahu told US-based ABC News in an interview.

The Knesset, Israeli parliament, on Monday approved a controversial bill that limits the Supreme Court's authority to overturn government decisions deemed unreasonable.

The legislation is part of the broader judicial overhaul plan, which has triggered 29 weeks of mass protests and has divided the Israeli society.

Netanyahu said his government is trying to "bring back Israeli democracy in line with what is common to all democracies."

"The essence of democracy is the balance between the will of the majority and the rights of the minority, and that's achieved by the balance between the three branches of government," he said. "That's been taken off the rails in Israel in the last 20 years because we have the most activist judicial court on the planet and it's arrogated to itself powers from the government -- from the executive and the legislative branches."

He said the relationship between Israel and the US is "as strong as it's ever been," adding that he followed the Biden administration's advice to proceed with the reform slowly.