Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that there were talks underway to reach a broad agreement on the final wording of the first bill in his judicial overhaul that is scheduled for a final vote on Monday and would prevent judicial oversight over the executive branch.
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" A change to the reasonability clause will only strengthen democracy," Netanyahu said, "but refusing to serve in the IDF reserves, in endangering democracy because the military answers to the government and not the other way around and those who now refuse to serve must understand that others will do the same under different circumstances."
Netanyahu said that after three months of talks with the opposition, his opponents refused to reach an agreement, accusing them of pandering to the public protests that have been held for some seven months including during the prime minister's televised address.
"Some seek chaos so that they can topple the government," he said and claimed that without the bidding of the opposition, he made changes to the bill. "I will not go into detail now but the claim that this law will destroy democracy is baseless," he said. He repeated his assertion that Israel would remain a liberal democracy and that he as the prime minister of all Israelis was working for their benefit.
Netanyahu had been in consultations with Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, a close ally, and Attorney Michael Rabello, who often represents him in litigation in front of the Supreme Court. According to sources, some of his advisers were pressuring him to make certain changes to the bill even without the opposition's agreement while coalition partners were exerting their pressure to pass the bill as it was approved earlier by the Constitution, Law Justice committee headed by Religious Zionism member Simcha Rothman, one of the architects of the judicial legislation and a far-right activist who has long preached against the Supreme Court.
Protesters took to the streets again on Thursday causing major disruption to traffic, and blocking highways in Tel Aviv, Ra'anana, Beer Sheva, Jerusalem as well as other locations as police used mounted officers and water cannons to remove them.
A protest march made up of the various groups opposed to the legislation: former members of elite IDF units including the Air Force, representatives of the High-Tech industry, medical professionals, academic groups and others, was making its way to Jerusalem after leaving Tel Aviv on Tuesday night, in preparation for a mass rally outside the Knesset on Saturday while the coalition and its supporters planned their own demonstration, in support of the judicial overhaul, next week.
Following the prime minister's speech another group of reserve soldiers serving in the military's special units said they will no longer serve.