‘Pump the brakes’, U.S. envoy tells Netanyahu on judicial changes

The U.S. envoy to Israel said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should slow progress on a contentious judicial overhaul that could make it harder for Washington to help him promote ties with Saudi Arabia or deal with Iran.
For weeks, Israel has been in uproar over Netanyahu’s hard-right government’s plan to carry through changes to the judiciary, which critics say endangers the country’s democratic checks and balances.
Israel’s parliament may on Monday hold the first of three votes on a bill that would increase the government’s sway in selecting judges while setting limits to the Supreme Court’s power to strike down laws or rule against the executive.
“We’re telling the Prime Minister, as I tell my kids, pump the brakes, slow down, try to get a consensus, bring the parties together,” Ambassador Tom Nides told CNN podcast The Axe Files that was published late on Saturday.
While Nides emphasised that Israel had the United States’ support on security and at the United Nations, he also said that Netanyahu’s stated hope of forging diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia or dealing with Iran’s nuclear programme, were at stake.