President Isaac Herzog said on Thursday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government should abandon proposed legislation to overhaul the country's judiciary in favor of a model with broad national support.
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The government's proposal has sparked mass protests across Israel and Herzog has been mediating between the sides.
"There are agreements over most issues, yes, not all, but the vast majority. Certainly enough to abandon the legislation currently proposed and bring in its place for discussion ... a different agreed upon piece of legislation," Herzog said in a televised address.
The plan, Herzog noted, was "wrong and heavy-handed, and undermines the very foundation of our democratic society." He said the government must shelve the current language and start from scratch.
The government's proposal has sparked mass protests across Israel and Herzog has been mediating between the sides.
Netanyahu had to be airlifted on Thursday to the country's main international airport for an official overseas trip after throngs of cars and protesters prevented him from driving there.
The demonstrations were part of nationwide protests underway for more than two months against Netanyahu and his government's contentious plan to overhaul the judiciary.
Demonstrators had made blocking Netanyahu's route to the airport a centerpiece of their efforts, and the optics of the Israeli leader having to make alternate travel plans were a win for the protest movement.
The helicopter ride, far from the snarling traffic triggered by the protest, was also sure to deepen Netanyahu's reputation as being out of touch with Israelis at a time when the country finds itself torn apart over the government plan and the economy is slowing.
Thursday's disruptions also disrupted a visit by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, whose schedule was rearranged to keep his engagements close to the airport.
Austin briefly waded into the Israeli domestic turmoil during a news conference, where he repeated President Joe Biden's recent comments that the "genius of American democracy and Israeli democracy is that they are both built on strong institutions, on checks and balances and on an independent judiciary."
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