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https://www.wsj.com/world/u-s-ambassador-warned-israel-against-going-off-the-rails-with-judicial-overhaul-d612fffa

U.S. Ambassador Warned Israel Against ‘Going Off the Rails’ With Judicial Overhaul

Departing diplomat Thomas Nides says he told Netanyahu to ‘slow down’ on judicial overhaul

By

Dov Lieber

and

Michael Amon

ET

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sits down with Wall Street Journal reporter Dov Lieber to discuss the mass protests facing the country, a deteriorating security situation in the West Bank and an escalating threat from Iran. Photo: Dror Lebendiger for The Wall Street Journal

TEL AVIV—The Biden administration is trying to stop Israel from “going off the rails” with a rushed overhaul of its judicial system, the departing U.S. ambassador to Israel said, as the government here revives the legislation and mass protests intensify again.

President Biden and his ambassador to Israel, Thomas Nides, had urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to slow down and seek a consensus with the political opposition on changes to the country’s Supreme Court, with protests paralyzing the country last spring. It is unusual for a U.S. administration to weigh in on matters seen as purely domestic, but Nides said the overhaul raised questions about Israel’s democratic credentials and the U.S.-Israeli bond, which he called as close as family. 

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