Israeli Politics Increasingly Dominated By Competing Visions Of Judicial Reform

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) walking during a hearing at the Magistrate’s Court in Rishon Lezion on January 23, 2023. – The Netanyahus were invited to testify in court in a defamation lawsuit filed by his lawyer David Shimron against David Artzi, who claimed to have seen a written and signed contract between the Netanyahus which obliges Benjamin Netanyahu to give his wife Sara the authority to appoint sensitive positions in the Israeli security system and Israeli politics. ABIR SULTAN/JNS

The Netanyahu government’s plan to enact wide-ranging judicial reform has taken center stage in Israeli politics, causing tens of thousands of opponents to take to the streets. On Monday, the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee will debate a part of the plan dealing with the proper role of ministry legal advisers, chief among them the attorney general (the position’s formal title is “Legal Adviser to the Government”).