JERUSALEM (VINnews) — The chareidi parties, which make up a significant part of Israel’s coalition, are fuming once again, after Prime Minister Netanyahu said in a Wall Street Journal interview that he would not be reintroducing the Override Clause even when he pursues other judicial reforms.
Join our WhatsApp groupSubscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
The clause had been strongly supported by the chareidi parties, who hoped that it would enable the Knesset to overcome judicial objections to a sweeping Draft Law granting exemptions to all those who wish to study Torah. Currently the law only allows exemptions for those aged over 26, with a requirement for a minimum number of conscripts from the chareidi community and deferments for all of the other students below this age, who are also not permitted to work while deferring their enlistment.
In the interview, Prime Minister Netanyahu told the WSG that “It’s out[the override clause],” adding that he is “attentive to the public pulse, and to what I think will pass muster.”
Netanyahu told the Journal that his government will still be moving ahead with a plan to exert much greater political control over the Judicial Selection Committee, which appoints judges and Supreme Court justices, but that the formulation of the new bill was not yet clear.
In response, United Torah Judaism Minister Meir Porush told the Makor Rishon newspaper that dropping the override clause would be a betrayal of his party’s agreement with Netanyahu.
“Two weeks ago, in a meeting with the Prime Minister in the presence of ministers [Yariv] Levin, [Dudi] Amsalem, and the Cabinet Secretary, I warned against this improper idea, and demanded in the name of United Torah Judaism that the amendment to the Draft Law include the execution of the three signed commitments: Basic Law: Torah Study, the Override Clause, and the amendment to the Service and Security Law, accordingly. Any other agreement is not acceptable to us,” Porush said.
Right-wing coalition members also expressed their disappointment after Netanyahu’s interview, stating that it represented a victory for the opposition to reforms, since “if after all the talks and hopes on the right all we get is a change of the reasonability clause, the reforms have basically died prematurely.”
With such a bad “cave-in” to the leftists by a scared Netanyahu, even though I was a fan of his, the time has finally arrived for real, for Bibi to get replaced by Gafni or/& BenGvir or/& Smotrich.
Cannot cave into 1M wicked protestors ignoring the will of 2M legitimate voters
Wow. Bibi betrayed his friends to help himself politically. Who could have imagined that?
Read Alexander Hamilton about why this would have been a horribly bad idea, inconsistent with a democracy. Kudos to Netanyahu for backing down.
He knows where the nation’s bread is buttered . It’s the seculars who carry the biggest tax and military burden , in addition to medical , scientific and technological professions .He had to give in .
This is such a shameless lust for power. If the Knesset can override a decision with just a simple majority, then why have the judiciary in the first place? The charedi parties probably would have prevented Malka Liefer’s extradition to Australia if given the opportunity.
Of course the Zionist betrayed the Jews. The Zionists have been doing that for over a century.