US Ambassador Tom Nides echoed President Joe Biden on Thursday during an interview with David Axelrod on his CNN podcast The Axe Files, saying the administration would prefer that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government reach a consensus on its proposed legal reforms, which some say would undermine the judiciary's independence and threaten Israel's democratic character.
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"We're telling the prime minister, as I tell my kids. Pump the brakes. Slow down, try to get a consensus, bring the parties together. It's very complicated, they're trying to do things way too fast, and to pump the brakes, slow down," Nides told Axelrod, who served under President Barack Obama as a senior advisor.
Netanyahu, who won a decisive victory in Nov. 1 election and returned to power in late December, is barred from directly engaging in legislation on the judiciary due to his ongoing trial on several corruption charges. However, his allies in the Likud party have been pushing through bills aimed at curtailing what they see as judicial overreach.
Some of the provisions of the proposed legislation would allow the Knesset to overturn Supreme Court rulings and place strict limits on when it can strike down legislation or intervene in government decisions. Proponents say this would empower the legislative power to implement the democratic will of the people and say that the Israeli judiciary is stronger than in most democracies.
Nides noted that Netanyahu is well aware of the potentially adverse effects the plan could have on the economy. "The prime minister deserves credit. He was at the forefront of Start-Up Nation. He deserves credit for an economic boom here in Israel. He was at the forefront as minister of finance and as prime minister. He should be concerned, which he is, about the perception that this judicial reform will have impact among businesses about investing here. That's getting his attention. And justifiably," Nides said.
