Former Israeli officials call on Netanyahu to end judicial reform

TEL AVIV

Former senior Israeli officials wrote to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, urging him to stop the controversial judicial reform, local media reported on Saturday.

In their letter, the retired officials urged Netanyahu to end all legislative steps related to the judicial overhaul, citing Netanyahu as "directly responsible for the grave damage done to the Israel Defense Forces and Israel's security."

"We place full responsibility on you for the damage done to the military and to Israel's security, and we expect you to take responsibility, stop the legislation, and start a process of negotiations (based) on broad consensus in the Israeli public and the Knesset (parliament),” it added.

They believed that the legislation violates Israel's 75-year-old social contract between the government and thousands of the army's reserve commanders and soldiers.

Israel has been in political turmoil in recent months over the planned judicial reform, with the opposition accusing the government of a power grab in favor of executive authority.

The Israeli opposition accuses Premier Netanyahu, who is facing trial on corruption charges, of using the judicial overhaul to shield himself from the courts.

Netanyahu has denied any link between the proposed changes and his own case.

*Writing by Gozde Bayar