BENNETT IN SYDNEY: ‘The only way forward is a unity government; we need a grand compromise’

Former Israeli PM told a UIA fundraiser on Sunday that he opposes the government’s judicial reforms: ‘they’ve taken it too far; they don’t fix the problem, they make it worse'.

“You all know there is a mega-crisis going on in Israel. It’s probably the biggest domestic crisis Israel has had.”

Naftali Bennett, who was Israel’s prime minister until the middle of last year, was relatively candid about the roots of Israel’s civil crisis and equally forthcoming about how to solve it, when he addressed a UIA fundraising event at Sydney’s Randwick Racecourse on Sunday night.

Speaking to an audience of 1200 people in an evening themed around Israel’s young military muscle and helping Ukrainian refugees, Bennett ranged across a wide range of subjects – from getting Vladimir Putin to promise he would not have Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy assassinated, to his government’s achievements, to dealing with Iran - in an address and Q&A that lasted nearly an hour.

But he also devoted much of his address to the dramatic situation enveloping Israel at the moment – the growing wave of civil protests and disobedience over the government’s proposed judicial override legislation, which would allow the government to appoint whoever it wants to be a judge and grant the government authority to overrule the Supreme Court rulings – effectively undermining the rule of law.

Predictably, he did not mention the personal and political benefits these changes could bring for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: the possibility of changing laws and appointing judges to help him avoid conviction and jail time for the multiple corruption charges he is facing.

Instead, Bennett focussed on the rise of identity politics. He said that over the past few years two distinct tribes had emerged. One tribe is “first Israel - Ashkenazi, secular, liberal, centre-left” - and the other is “second Israel - Likud, traditional, Sephardim.

“There’s rage between the two”, Bennett said, and this rage is the background to the crisis.

“My conclusion is the only way forward is a unity government. We cannot have one side of government in the next few years.

“We have to have everyone inside the tent: Likud, Lapid, Gantz, Haredim, left, right - bring them all in using the 70% rule.”

Bennett did not mention Arabs or Palestinians in reference to being inside the tent, despite having led a coalition that included an Arab party whose leader, Mansour Abbas, he publicly applauded during his address.

The 70% rule, according to Bennett, is that “70% of Israelis agree on 70% of things; they disagree on 30% - such as the Palestinian conflict and ideological issues.

“I just don’t see any other mechanism to get Israel out of this conundrum.

“I have to say: I am worried. And it’s fully self-inflicted. This [crisis] is 100% made in Israel.”

“There is a battle between [First Israel and Second Israel] and the manifestation is the judicial reform debate.

“We need judicial reform – but not the judicial reform that’s been suggested.”

Bennett said Israel’s Supreme Court has two problems: the first is a lack of diversity among the judges, which has resulted in the court not “representing the diversity of the Israeli public”.

The second is that the court “has become too activist,” he said. “The Supreme Court needs to protect the basic rights of all Israelis against potential executive violations. So if the government decides to discriminate against the Ethiopians or take my backyard away from me, I have to have somewhere to appeal to - and that’s when you want the Supreme Court to intervene.

“But they are not a second opinion of government. If there is no human rights violation, they should not intervene. If it’s just a stupid government decision, that’s not their business. That’s why we go to elections. If the government is making dumb decisions, then hopefully the government will get kicked out.” Again, he ignored the occupation and political agenda of Netanyahu and Shas party leader Aryeh Deri.

Bennett said he will “oppose the current reforms” but “we have to concede these two points – and fix them.

“The only problem is that the proposed reforms don’t solve this problem; they make it even worse. They allow the prime minister to appoint every single judge in the land, from the low to the very top, and that’s crazy. We need to fix it.”

He said the judicial system “is broken but not totally broken. They’re not fixing it now; they’re taking it too far. We need a grand compromise [through a unity government]”.

He said the key is for the two tribes needed to understand the sentiment of the other. “People are really terrified on both sides. So if we just understand that [crisis is] 90% psychology and 10% substance, we can solve it.”

Bennett said his political stance had evolved and he now saw himself as a moderate; “I’ve become a radical moderate. I’m a huge believer in moderation. That’s what we need.”

Aside from Bennett, the other notable contribution to the evening was the performance of the IDF ensemble, a group of four young soldiers who sang some well-known songs to the audience, including Jerusalem of Gold and Let It Be.

Their singing was excellent but it was undermined by a series of jarring images that accompanied them on screens around the hall. Jerusalem of Gold did not feature one image of the city. Instead there was a series of smiling young IDF soldiers carrying assault rifles and other military equipment. The imagery continued for Let It Be, a song about peace and respect. Ostensibly a message of hope, these segments felt more like a recruitment drive for the IDF.

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Main photo: Naftali Bennett speaking in Sydney on Sunday, February 26 (Michael Visontay)

Other photos and video: Shahar Burla