News - Middle East: Israeli lawmakers have resumed debating a bill that would limit the powers of the regime’s Supreme Court, as part of rebooting a widely-bashed “judicial overhaul” plan by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right coalition cabinet.

The lawmakers at the Israeli parliament (Knesset) began discussing the so-called reform drive on Sunday, three months after Netanyahu froze the controversial legislative package due to widespread anti-regime street protests.
The proposed changes, which included curbs on the court's ability to rule against the cabinet, triggered massive rallies before the March suspension as the Israeli prime minister held compromise talks with opposition parties to settle their differences.
Netanyahu declared those talks fruitless last week and ordered some aspects of the legislation to be revived, with coalition lawmakers claiming that the new bill would be a far softer version of previous proposals that had sought to almost totally roll back the Supreme Court's power to rule against the executive.
The opposition, however, said the new bill would still open the door to corruption, stressing that Netanyahu was “renewing a legislation blitz meant to destroy the justice system's independence.”
Opposition leader Yair Lapid called on Netanyahu on Twitter to stop the legislation and revive negotiations until an agreement is reached.