Ben Gvir and Netanyahu reach agreement to delay judicial reform

27 (EUROPA PRESS)

The far-right Itamar Ben Gvir, leader of the Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party and current Israeli National Security Minister, announced on Monday an agreement to delay judicial reform until the summer after threatening Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with leaving. of the coalition government if it paralyzed the measure.

Ben Gvir reportedly agreed to delay judicial reform until the summer in exchange for the formation of a “National Guard” under the command of the Ministry of National Security that he leads, a measure that could be approved at the next coalition cabinet meeting, has reported the newspaper ‘The Jerusalem Post’.

The creation of a National Guard, defended by Ben Gvir for months, means reinforcing the existing border Police forces with the creation of a body independent of the police authority that is subject to the Ministry of National Security, that is, under its command. straight.

Ben Gvir has previously stated that the body – whose job it would be to carry out sensitive operations in the West Bank, such as arrests – would be under the command of the Police. The far-right has tried to materialize this new police force since the signing of the coalition agreement.

Specifically, Ben Gvir proposes the transfer of soldiers from the border Police, as well as the recruitment of new Police agents and up to 10,000 volunteer troops, a proposal that has been criticized by the opposition, which affirms that the ultra-rightist proposes creating a militia Private that responds to your interests.

Although Netanyahu was scheduled to appear at 10:00 a.m. (local time), his speech has been postponed due to threats from some of his far-right and ultra-Orthodox associates about the possibility of withdrawing their support if he gave in and suspended the reform.

The far-right has previously argued that “judicial reform must not be stopped” and has stressed that “we must not surrender to anarchy.” Previously, the Minister of Heritage, Amichai Eliyahu, of Otzma Yehudit, had stressed that the party was not prepared to stop the processing of this legislation.

If successful, the reform would give the government full control over the appointment of judges, including those on the Supreme Court, and would greatly limit the court’s ability to strike down legislation that violates the Constitution, while allowing Parliament to amend laws it succeeds in. annul with a simple majority of 61 of the 120 deputies.