Published: 17 March 2023
Last updated: 5 March 2024
Warning of civil war, President Herzog unveiled a plan to overcome Israel’s civil crisis. Netanyahu promptly rejected it.
President Isaac Herzog unveiled his “People’s Framework” proposal to replace the government’s plans to radically overhaul the judicial system, in a prime-time address to the nation on Wednesday.
Herzog urged both sides “not to destroy the country” in a power struggle over the judiciary, but rather seize the opportunity for “a formative constitutional moment.”
He warned that having heard first-hand from hundreds of Israelis in recent weeks their passionate views on the controversy over the coalition’s radical judicial overhaul legislation, “Those who think that a real civil war, with human lives, is a border we won’t cross, have no idea.” In Israel’s 75th year, “the abyss is within touching distance,” he said. “A civil war is a red line. At any price, and by any means, I won’t let it happen.”
Shortly after Herzog published his offer, and before departing on a visit to Berlin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected it.
“The things the President proposes were not agreed on by the coalition, and central elements of the proposal he offered just perpetuate the existing situation, and don’t bring the necessary balance between the branches,” Netanyahu said.
The German trip has been shortened due what the PM's office described as "developments in national security". Netanyahu was met with Israeli protestors and a row of signs saying 'Don't Come Back'. He is scheduled to meet Netanyahu is set to meet with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who are expected to take advantage of the visit to Berlin to publicly criticise both the judicial coup and Israeli policy in the West Bank.
