Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Wednesday with a delegation from the Moody’s credit rating agency, according to a report by Israel’s Channel 12 News.
The delegation discussed the status of the negotiations on a compromise on the government’s judicial reforms, according to the report.
The delegation also met with senior economic officials and was slated to meet on Thursday with Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron.
The meeting came amid tensions over the upcoming Supreme Court hearing on the legality of Amendment No. 4 to Basic Law: The Judiciary, also known as the “reasonableness clause,” passed by the Knesset in July.
The shekel weakened significantly as fears mount in the business sector over the possibility of a constitutional crisis in the state when the Supreme Court hears arguments on September 12 challenging the law.
Israel’s Supreme Court has never dared before to hear arguments and rule on the country’s Basic Laws, which function as the state’s form of constitution.
Amendment No. 4 to Basic Law: The Judiciary (also known as the “reasonableness standard”) would restrict the Court’s ability to strike down government appointments and laws passed by the Knesset, based on whether the judge feels them to be “reasonable.”
The Knesset’s passage of the legislation triggered multiple lawsuits by opposition lawmakers and anti-government NGOs.
Immediately following the law’s passage, Moody’s announced that it had not changed Israel’s credit outlook, but expressed concerns over the social upheaval resulting from the minority opposition to the government’s planned package of judicial reforms.
