Netanyahu needs a compromise

After doing on Monday what hundreds of thousands of protesters urged him to do for months, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must waste no time in seeking the dialogue and compromise needed to end the chaos surrounding his plans for judicial reform. Mr Netanyahu was not exaggerating when, in a television address announcing a pause in legislating the controversial changes, he warned of “civil war” and pledged to take “time out for dialogue” in “an attempt to achieve broad consensus”. He must make good on that promise. On Sunday he sacked defence minister Yoav Gallant, who became the first cabinet member to break ranks over the reform. Mr Gallant’s warning about dissent in the army over the changes – particularly among reservists on whom Israel relies heavily for its security – needed to be heard.

Israel’s military chief, General Herzi Halevi, who rarely speaks publicly, added to the clamour when he warned that the Jewish state’s relatively small standing army could not operate without reservists. No less important were the repeated entreaties from President Isaac Herzog and prominent members of the Jewish diaspora across the world for Mr Netanyahu to think again.

Having wisely hit the pause button until the beginning of the summer session of the Knesset (parliament), which starts on April 30, Mr Netanyahu has no easy options for consensus. Many Israelis accept that the persistently overreaching judiciary needs reform. Overhauling it was a key plank when Mr Netanyahu won the election in November last year. Where the Prime Minister has failed, however, is in convincing many Israelis and the Jewish state’s friends that his reform plan is the right one. While there may be significant support for plans to remove the Supreme Court’s power over the selection of new justices, more aggressive proposals allowing a simple majority in the Knesset to override the court whenever it strikes down a law have raised fierce opposition, even within Mr Netanyahu’s ruling coalition.

Given the extent of the civil unrest and disaffection in recent weeks, there is no easy way out of the crisis. Mr Netanyahu is beholden for his coalition’s survival to the far-right and ultra-religious parties determined to see no compromise. Abandoning the overhaul could destroy his government. No less vital for him, however, is to placate the enormous opposition to the overhaul within Israeli society and around the world that is accompanied by claims Israel’s estimable democracy is under threat. That is nonsense. Recent weeks have shown it is alive and well.

Reassuring as that is, there is an urgent need for all sides in the overheated Israeli political cauldron to seek the sensible middle ground. Only the terrorists of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hamas and Islamic Jihad will be winners if efforts to seek compromise fail and the turmoil continues.