US Secretary of State Antony Blinken hinted that a broad consensus was needed for Israel’s planned judicial overhaul when he met Monday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Building consensus for new proposals is the most effective way to ensure they are embraced and that they endure,” he said.
He spoke amid proposals from outside the government that President Isaac Herzog leads a non-partisan process for judicial overhaul so that it is not tied to the political and diplomatic agenda of Netanyahu’s new government.
Critics of the judicial overhaul plan have warned that it could harm Israeli democracy. The United States has been concerned but has been loath to publicly come out against an internal reform process in Israel.
Blinken’s statement on the judicial overhaul was the most public one to date and in issuing it, he appeared to lend his support for Herzog to take over the reform process.
In a meeting that evening with Herzog, Blinken told the president he appreciated "the clarity of your voice when it comes to finding a good way forward that builds consensus on the question of judicial reform" and in ''working to de-escalate tension within Israel."
Herzog said he was "devoted to trying to resolve or lead to a path of internal dialogue. As you said correctly, this is an issue that requires wide consensus, and it is an issue many democracies debate," but said that ultimately Israel had to resolve the issue "internally, as societies and nations should do."
Netanyahu has pushed back in the past days at criticism of his government's judicial overhaul plan, noting that it will strengthen democracy, not weaken it.
He promised Blinken that Israel would remain a democracy.
Israel, US 'rooted in their shared democratic values'
Israel and the United States, he said "share common values" and are "two strong democracies which will remain, I assure you, two strong democracies."
Blinken recalled for Netanyahu that the relationship between the two countries was rooted in their shared democratic values.
“One of the things that makes the partnership between us so strong is that it goes well beyond any one American or Israeli government,” he said.
The 75-year relationship between the two countries, he said, “is rooted both in shared interests and in shared values.
“That includes our support for core democratic principles and institutions including respect for human rights, the equal administration of justice for all, the equal rights of minority groups, the rule of law, free press [and] a robust civil society,” he said.
"The commitment of people in both our countries to make their voices heard, to defend their rights, is one of the unique strengths of our democracies," said Blinken as he added that this democracy has been strengthened when held to established mutual standards.
Part of that conversation about democracy includes a frank dialogue when “we agree and when we do not,” he said.
Blinken: Israelis, Palestinians must take urgent steps to restore calm
Blinken's trip is his first since Netanyahu's new government was sworn in last month and comes on the heels of US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan's visit.
He arrived as violence has escalated between Israelis and Palestinians, including Friday’s Palestinian shooting attack against a synagogue in Jerusalem’s Neveh Ya’acov neighborhood that claimed seven lives and the one on Saturday by the City of David in which a father and son were injured.
Jewish extremists have engaged in retaliatory attacks, with the Israeli NGO Yesh Din charging that a firebomb was set off outside a Palestinian home, setting a garage and a vehicle ablaze.
On Thursday, seven Palestinian gunmen and two civilians were killed during an IDF raid on the West Bank city of Jenin to route out a terror cell. The PA suspended its security ties with Israel in response.
Blinken called on Israelis and Palestinians to take “urgent steps to restore calm.”
The Biden administration remains committed to a two-state resolution to the conflict, Blinken told Netanyahu. “Anything that moves us away from that vision is detrimental to Israel’s long-term security and its long-term identity as a Jewish and democratic state.”
“We want to make sure there is an environment where we can start to restore security for Israelis and Palestinians alike, he said.
Netanyahu said he believed an important part of the puzzle was to expand the Abraham Accords, under whose auspices Israel normalized ties with four Arab counties in 2020.
"We intend to deepen the peace that we’ve already made in the Abraham Accords' by normalizing ties with additional Arab countries, he said.
By "expanding the circle of peace – working to close, finally, the file of the Arab-Israeli conflict" Israel will "achieve a workable solution with our Palestinian neighbors."
Blinken said that the US also wanted to expand the accords but that such efforts "are not a substitute for progress between Israelis and Palestinians."
The Secretary of State is scheduled to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict when he meets with PA Prudent Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Tuesday.
Escalating violence was top on his mind when he landed at Ben Gurion International Airport and spoke briefly to the media.
He appeared to reference Jewish extremist violence against Palestinians in the West Bank as well as extremist calls against Arabs when he said that “calls for vengeance against more innocent victims are not the answer. Acts of retaliatory violence against civilians are never justified,” he said.
Blinken also sharply condemned the synagogue attack which 'occurred on international holocaust day, a day when we mourn the six million Jews killed in the Shoah [Holocaust] and dedicate ourselves anew to rooting out the hatred and dehumanization that makes such unspeakable crimes possible,” he said.
The synagogue attack, he said, was an act of hate against religious freedom.
“To take an innocent life in an act of terrorism is always a heinous crime, but to target people outside their place of worship is especially shocking,” he said.
“For every faith, the house of worship is hollowed. It’s a place of communion of awe and as .. of love,” Blinken said.
“Friday’s attack was more than an attack on individuals it was also an attack on the universal act of practicing one’s faith,
“We condemn it in the strongest terms.. we condemn all those who celebrate these and any other acts of terrorism that take innocent lives, no matter who the victim is or what they believe,” Blinken said.
Prior to his arrival in Israel, Secretary Blinken met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in Cairo.
“The secretary commended President El-Sisi for Egypt’s important role in promoting stability in the region, discussed ongoing efforts to de-escalate tensions between Israelis and Palestinians, noted the importance of unified international support for holding elections in Libya, and underscored the importance of the Framework Political Agreement to the democratic aspirations of the Sudanese people,” said Spokesperson Ned Price.
“The Secretary expressed the United States’ solidarity with Egypt as it contends with the economic impact of Russia’s brutal war in Ukraine; he also underlined US support for Egypt’s home-grown economic reform agenda, as well as for the International Monetary Fund program underpinning its implementation,” Price said in a statement.
The two also discussed efforts to enhance economic cooperation. “The Secretary also emphasized that the bilateral relationship is strengthened by progress on human rights,” the statement reads. “The Secretary reiterated U.S. support for a diplomatic resolution on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam that would safeguard the interests of all parties.”
In a meeting with Egyptian members of civil society, Blinken heard about “these individuals’ critical work to advance fundamental freedoms in Egypt.”
“The Secretary reaffirmed the importance of human rights to US foreign policy, emphasized the United States’ steadfast support for human rights defenders, and pledged to continue close US engagement with Egyptian civil society,” said the State Department.
Omri Nahmias contributed to this report.