CNN host Wolf Blitzer interrupted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu multiple times during a contentious interview Thursday about his country’s judicial reforms.
“Mr. Prime Minister, let me interrupt with all due respect,” Blitzer said as Netanyahu explained the unique nature of Israel’s Supreme Court.
“Mr. Prime Minister, let me interrupt with all due respect,” Blitzer said a second time. “You of course control the executive in Israel. Your coalition controls the Knesset, the Parliament. You’re weakening the Supreme Court. Where are the checks and balances?” Blitzer asked Netanyahu.
“In Israel,” Netanyahu explained, “the Supreme Court has a lot of checks but there are no balances.”
As the prime minister continued to make his defense of the judicial reforms, Blitzer interrupted him again.
“Let me just point out Mr. Prime Minister,” Blitzer began, speaking over Netanyahu. Blitzer then battled with Netanyahu over the passing of his judicial reform bill, calling it “disturbing” and arguing that the U.S. “has a lot more checks and balances” than Israel.
“And as you know,” Blitzer said to Netanyahu, “what’s so disturbing is that thousands of Israeli military reservists are protesting, including pilots, they’re refusing to serve right now. That’s emboldening Israel’s adversaries like Iran. They’re watching. Is Israel less safe today because of what you’re doing?”
“Well, I’ll answer it if you’ll let me answer your questions. If you just want to hear yourself, go ahead. But you want to hear my answer, let me answer,” Netanyahu shot back at Blitzer.
“Go ahead,” Blitzer said.
The prime minister went on to say that while a “few thousand” reservists are protesting, closer to “100,000 people” have signed a petition in “support [of] the current actions of the government.”
“You didn’t hear a word about it,” he continued. “We had a quarter of a million people the other day in Tel Aviv supporting the government.”
Netanyahu also acknowledged there was a “big debate” in Israel over judicial reforms, but claimed that nothing about his reforms were undemocratic.
This is not the first time that Netanyahu has argued with American TV hosts over Israeli politics. On Thursday, the Israeli Prime Minister clashed with ABC host George Stephanopoulos over the same issue.
After Stephanopoulos cited President Biden’s advice to Netanyahu to “go slow” on reforms, Netanyahu responded that “this has been as slow as you can go.”
Critics of the legislation say it would feed corruption and lean toward authoritarianism by preventing the country’s highest court from quashing the appointment of corrupt officials and allowing the ruling coalition to expunge individuals who disagree with its policies. However, those in favor of the bill say it will rein in the judiciary, arguing the reasonableness standard is too vague and allows the courts to reject the decisions of election officials based on political grounds.
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Fox News’ Danielle Wallace and Yonat Friling contributed to this report.
