Biden urges Netanyahu abandon judicial overhaul that sparked protests

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U.S. President Joe Biden travels to North Carolina
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks with reporters before boarding Air Force One to return to Washington from Raleigh-Durham International Airport, Morrisville, North Carolina, U.S., March 28, 2023. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

WASHINGTON, JERUSALEM, March 28 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to abandon a judicial overhaul proposal that led to massive protests in Israel, prompting the Israeli leader to say he does not make decisions based on pressure from abroad.

Netanyahu on Monday delayed the overhaul proposal after large numbers of people spilled into the streets. The White House initially said in response that Netanyahu should seek a compromise on the issue.

But Biden went further in taking questions from reporters on Tuesday. "I hope he walks away from it," Biden said, referring to the judicial proposal that would give the Israeli government greater control over appointments to the country's Supreme Court.

Netanyahu quickly issued a statement in response.

"Israel is a sovereign country which makes its decisions by the will of its people and not based on pressures from abroad, including from the best of friends," he said.

Netanyahu said his administration was striving to make reforms "via broad consensus."

"I have known President Biden for over 40 years, and I appreciate his longstanding commitment to Israel," Netanyahu said.

He said the Israel-U.S. alliance is unbreakable "and always overcomes the occasional disagreements between us.

"My administration is committed to strengthening democracy by restoring the proper balance between the three branches of government, which we are striving to achieve via a broad consensus," Netanyahu said.

Reporting By Jeff Mason and Maayan Lubell; Writing by Steve Holland; Editing by Leslie Adler

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Jeff Mason is a White House Correspondent for Reuters. He has covered the presidencies of Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden and the presidential campaigns of Biden, Trump, Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain. He served as president of the White House Correspondents’ Association in 2016-2017, leading the press corps in advocating for press freedom in the early days of the Trump administration. His and the WHCA's work was recognized with Deutsche Welle's "Freedom of Speech Award." Jeff has asked pointed questions of domestic and foreign leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea's Kim Jong Un. He is a winner of the WHCA's “Excellence in Presidential News Coverage Under Deadline Pressure" award and co-winner of the Association for Business Journalists' "Breaking News" award. Jeff began his career in Frankfurt, Germany as a business reporter before being posted to Brussels, Belgium, where he covered the European Union. Jeff appears regularly on television and radio and teaches political journalism at Georgetown University. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and a former Fulbright scholar.

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