Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump have not spoken in years, but Netanyahu’s victory Monday on judicial reform shows the two still have much in common — and can help each other.
Netanyahu held his fractious ruling coalition together, against overwhelming pressure from protests, the media, U.S. President Joe Biden, and even the military to pass the first of several proposed fixes to Israel’s judiciary.
The reform itself is rather modest — almost laughably so. It prevents Israel’s all- powerful judiciary from blocking government policies on the basis of what judges themselves decide is “reasonable.”
Almost no one, even in Israel, is defending the current practice, which was adopted by the left-leaning judiciary over the last several decades. But the left tried to shut down the country lest Netanyahu try to make further reforms.
