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‘Lip Service:’ Benjamin Netanyahu, Emmanuel Macron Talk Israel’s Judicial Reforms In France – Source [1]
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Date: 2023-02-03 15:17:26+00:00
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and French President Emmanuel Macron spoke on a wide range of issues Thursday, including the Iranian threat, the war in Ukraine, and even judicial reforms in the Jewish state, according to a senior diplomatic source.
Netanyahu arrived in Paris on Thursday and held a three-hour meeting with Macron, in what was "one of the best meetings" between the two leaders, the source told i24NEWS. In that meeting, the two briefly discussed the controversial judicial reforms in Israel – proposed legislation that would allow parliamentary members a vote to override decisions of the Supreme Court.
“You can spin political markets endlessly… you can’t spin financial markets,” the unnamed source told i24NEWS. “The concern here is the reaction to the reform, not the reform [itself]. It becomes like the two-state solution – everyone will mention it, but no one actually means it. It’s lip service."
“At the end, it will be tested on the ground. Like normalization with Arab countries," the source added.
Some rightly observe that the French president has refrained from openly criticizing Netanyahu on his plans to reform the judicial system, as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken took the liberty of doing earlier this week. However, the French newspaper Le Monde reported that behind closed doors, Macron warned the Israeli leader that the reform could harm the country’s democracy.
After their meeting, Netanyahu told reporters that the topic of “investments in Israel” was the main focus.
“The meeting was fantastic. You will be surprised to know… that they only talked about how they were increasing their investments in Israel,” he said. “There are huge companies here. Everyone only talked about one thing – how do we increase our investments in the State of Israel?” And “we will help them,” he continued.
“They do a lot of projects. We are going to establish a committee for national projects. We will reduce the bureaucracy. We will make many reforms in the legislation. That’s what I care about.”
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[1] Url:
https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/diplomacy/1675437105-lip-service-netanyahu-macron-talk-israel-s-judicial-reforms-source
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