Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined ABC’s Good Morning America on Thursday to push back against the “silly” criticisms of his plans to reform his country’s Supreme Court by calmly giving host George Stephanopoulos a basic civics lesson in separation of powers. Not a fan of the “silly” description, Stephanopoulos responded by wondering why Netanyahu doesn’t just listen to President Biden on the matter.
After touching on Netanyahu’s recent hospitalization, Stephanopoulos noted there has been “Lots of controversy over this bill you have passed. Deep divisions, as I said, mass protests in Israel, some national strikes. Thousands of reservists have said they don't want to serve now. Dozens of top national security officials say this has harmed Israel's national security. Back in March, you put this on hold because you said you wanted to prevent a rift in the country and avoid civil war.”
Finally getting around to a question, Stephanopoulos wondered why Netanyahu hasn’t just given up, “Back in March, you put this on hold because you said you wanted to prevent a rift in the country and avoid civil war. So, why go forward now?”
Netanyahu, and not for the first time, responded by giving his American interviewer a basic lesson in how representative democracy works:
Well, because I think we have 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 rights of the minority and that's achieved by the balance between the three branches of government. That's been taken off the rails in Israel in the last 20 years because the-- we have the most activist judicial court on the planet.
Trying to provide Stephanopoulos with an analogy, Netanyahu continued, “Imagine that in the United States, the Supreme Court could tell the executive, the president, okay, “we are nullifying any one of your decisions just based on something that we think is unreasonable.” You would not accept it. We don't accept it, but we have to correct it and that's what we just did. It's a minor correction.”
Addressing his critics, he added, “It’s described as the end of Israeli democracy, I think that’s silly and when the dust settles everybody will be okay.”
Not happy with that description, Stephanopoulos pushed back, “You may think it's silly. You may say it's a minor correction, but we've all seen what's been happening in Israel over the past several months. We've seen the protests. We've seen the strikes. We’ve seen the outcry from other officials. We've heard President Biden say it doesn't make sense to pursue this right now. Israel should go slow. Why not take that advice?”
Netanyahu would have been well within his rights to tell Biden to mind his own business and to point out how many of his American critics favor making changes to our own Supreme Court, but he was more generous, "Well, I did. I mean, this has been as slow as you can go. I’ve been here in government-- in this government for seven months and I didn't proceed with anything until, as I say, this minor correction which, by the way, many of the opposition leaders supported just before the election."
He also recalled “I pressed the pause button for three months, tried to get some kind of compromise on anything and couldn't get anything from the opposition.”
Now that he has passed this reform, Netanyahu held out hope that “the opposition leaders show responsibility and come to the middle. There is a middle out there.”
There is, but Stephanopoulos is not interested in finding it.
This segment was sponsored by Sandals.
Here is a transcript for the July 27 show:
ABC Good Morning America
7/27/2023
8:12 AM ET
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Lots of controversy over this bill you have passed. Deep divisions, as I said, mass protests in Israel, some national strikes. Thousands of reservists have said they don't want to serve now. Dozens of top national security officials say this has harmed Israel's national security. Back in March, you put this on hold because you said you wanted to prevent a rift in the country and avoid civil war. So, why go forward now?
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: Well, because I think we have 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 rights of the minority and that's achieved by the balance between the three branches of government. That's been taken off the rails in Israel in the last 20 years because the-- we have the most activist judicial court on the planet.
And it’s arrogated for itself powers from the government, from the executive and legislative branches. So we’ve-- we're trying to correct it, but I want to bring the pendulum to the middle, I don’t want to bring the pendulum to the other side.
There's a middle ground here and I hope we can achieve it, but that's why we're doing it. Imagine that in the United States, the Supreme Court could tell the executive, the president, okay, “we are nullifying any one of your decisions just based on something that we think is unreasonable.” You would not accept it. We don't accept it, but we have to correct it and that's what we just did. It's a minor correction.
It’s described as the end of Israeli democracy, I think that’s silly and when the dust settles everybody will be okay.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You may think it's silly. You may say it's a minor correction, but we've all seen what's been happening in Israel over the past several months. We've seen the protests. We've seen the strikes. We’ve seen the outcry from other officials. We've heard President Biden say it doesn't make sense to pursue this right now. Israel should go slow. Why not take that advice?
NETANYAHU: Well, I did. I mean, this has been as slow as you can go. I’ve been here in government-- in this government for seven months and I didn't proceed with anything until, as I say, this minor correction which, by the way, many of the opposition leaders supported just before the election.
They changed their views now for political reasons, but I held back. I actually pressed the pause button for three months because I did take seriously the concerns. I don't think the arguments are real, but I think the concern is real, because people are afraid. I understand that.
So, I pressed the pause button for three months, tried to get some kind of compromise on anything and couldn't get anything from the opposition and therefore decided to proceed with this minor correction, which is common to all democracies and I'm still trying, as I said to President Biden, I'll try to proceed, if not with a consensus with the opposition, the other side of the political aisle in our parliament, then at least on something that has broad acceptance in the public and I think it’s possible.
I’m actually more optimistic now then I was before because up to now, you know, now that they can see that we can—that we’re prepared to move without them, we have the majority, maybe we'll be able to move with them and I hope the opposition leaders show responsibility and come to the middle. There is a middle out there.
