Israel’s Parliament to Vote on Ratifying Supreme Court Bill Next Week 

Demonstrators sit in water cannon spray fired by Israeli riot police during a protest against the Israeli government's judicial overhaul bill in Tel Aviv on July 18, 2023. (AFP)
Demonstrators sit in water cannon spray fired by Israeli riot police during a protest against the Israeli government's judicial overhaul bill in Tel Aviv on July 18, 2023. (AFP)
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Israel’s Parliament to Vote on Ratifying Supreme Court Bill Next Week 

Demonstrators sit in water cannon spray fired by Israeli riot police during a protest against the Israeli government's judicial overhaul bill in Tel Aviv on July 18, 2023. (AFP)
Demonstrators sit in water cannon spray fired by Israeli riot police during a protest against the Israeli government's judicial overhaul bill in Tel Aviv on July 18, 2023. (AFP)

Israel's parliament will hold final votes next week on a highly-disputed bill that would limit the Supreme Court's power, according to a Knesset statement on Wednesday.

The proposal by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right coalition has sparked mass-protests nationwide and concern among foreign allies for Israel's democratic health.

Netanyahu has sought sweeping changes to the judiciary since returning to power late last year atop a religious-nationalist government. Since the uproar, many of them have been delayed.

The bill scheduled for discussion and ratification on Sunday and Monday would curb the Supreme Court's ability to void government and minister decisions or appointments by stripping the judges of the power to deem such decisions "unreasonable."

Proponents of the change say the Supreme Court has become too interventionist and that the change will facilitate effective governance.

Opponents say it will weaken the Supreme Court, which in a country that has no constitution and a one-chamber parliament that is dominated by the government - has a critical role in protecting civil rights and liberties.

Washington has urged Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption charges he denies, to seek consensus on judicial reforms.



UN Security Council Authorizes New Somalia Peacekeeping Mission

File photo: Somalia police patrol near the scene of a suicide bomber attack at a café, in Mogadishu, Somalia, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)
File photo: Somalia police patrol near the scene of a suicide bomber attack at a café, in Mogadishu, Somalia, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)
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UN Security Council Authorizes New Somalia Peacekeeping Mission

File photo: Somalia police patrol near the scene of a suicide bomber attack at a café, in Mogadishu, Somalia, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)
File photo: Somalia police patrol near the scene of a suicide bomber attack at a café, in Mogadishu, Somalia, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)

The United Nations Security Council authorized an African Union stabilisation and support mission in Somalia - known as AUSSOM - on Friday that will replace a larger AU anti-terrorism operation from Jan. 1, 2025.
Somalia's security has been underwritten by foreign resources since Ethiopia invaded in 2006, toppling the administration but galvanising an insurgency that has since killed tens of thousands of people.
The European Union and United States, the top funders of AU forces in Somalia, wanted to reduce the number of AU peacekeepers due to concerns about long-term financing and sustainability, sources told Reuters in June. Negotiations about the new force had proven complicated, they said.
The United States abstained from the UN Security Council vote on Friday over its funding concerns. The remaining 14 council members voted for the resolution.