Larry Summers: Rushing judicial reform a risk to Israel’s economy

Former US Secretary of the Treasury Larry Summers has told “Bloomberg” that if the Israeli government rushes into changes to Israel’s judicial system, it will risk harming the country’s economy.

Summers said that he believed that there was a strong case for judicial reform in Israel. “It’s unusual by international standards for judges to be chosen by currently sitting judges; it’s unusual for courts to be able to rule out legislation simply by judging that it’s unreasonable without having a constitution to point to,” he said.

RELATED ARTICLES

The Economist: Reform poses risk to Israel’s economic strength

Israeli business leaders call for dialogue on judicial change

Summers added however that it was clear that to a large number of people, particularly in the entrepreneurial community, with the ability to move large sums in and out of Israel, it felt that “an overly rapid not carefully done judicial reform could raise serious and profound questions about the rule of law, and that, it seems to me, could have quite serious adverse effects on the Israeli economy.

“My instinct is that judicial reform is appropriate, but with a very different process and on a slower track than seems to be envisaged by many in Israel right now,” Summers said.

Summers refused to comment on reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had spoken to him and tried to enlist his support for the government’s planned measures, but he said that he was following events closely.

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on February 12, 2023.

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2023.