Protests Force Netanyahu To Delay Judicial Reform

Israel’s political factions opposed to embattled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began setting up negotiating teams Tuesday after he delayed a planned judicial overhaul that spurred protests and a spiraling economic crisis, Laurie Kellman reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Photo Insert: Three months of demonstrations against the overhaul plan intensified this week and Israel’s main trade union declared a general strike.

But compromise seemed elusive as the standoff remains over the fundamental issue of what kind of country Israel should be — and positions only appear to have hardened.

Three months of demonstrations against the overhaul plan intensified this week and Israel’s main trade union declared a general strike, striking fear in Netanyahu that Israel’s already wobbling economy would tank.

A monthlong delay in the judicial revamp would not mean much for Palestinians who would be harassed by a national guard that Netanyahu allowed a Cabinet minister tagged by most Israelis as a fascist to organize.

Most Christians are opposed to Netanyahu, whose Orthodox allies spit on the faces of Catholic and Orthodox priests with regularity. They are resisting the plan of Netanyahu to declare Judaism as a state religion and transform the government into a theocracy.

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