Justices take adversarial tone in overhaul hearing

Welcome to The Times of Israel’s Daily Briefing, your 15-minute audio update on what’s happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, from Sunday through Thursday. ToI founding editor David Horovitz and diplomatic correspondent Lazar Berman join host Jessica Steinberg for today's podcast. Horovitz discusses the start of the tense judicial overhaul hearings for petitions against the reasonableness law, a process that could take weeks or months, as justices play devil's advocate in the fateful process. There is a hard deadline, comments Horovitz, given the upcoming 70th birthday of High Court president Esther Hayut in October, when she must retire, with a three-month window -- through January -- in which she can weigh in on active cases. Berman talks about the somewhat surprising statement made by National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi at the Institute for Counter-Terrorism Policy (ICT) conference at Reichman University in Herzliya, when he said that regular contact with the Palestinians has been very good since he came into office, and that this government is open to significant concessions. He also discusses a disagreement taking place between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli press corps traveling with him to the US Sunday night, as the prime minister told the press that they will have to find their own way back to Israel hours before the Yom Kippur holiday. Discussed articles include: Israel on edge as Supreme Court convenes for historic, crucial overhaul hearing Hanegbi says Israel, PA having ‘open’ talks, sees change in Palestinians’ approach Told to find own way home, journalists threaten to boycott Netanyahu’s US trip Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on iTunes, Spotify, PlayerFM, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts. IMAGE: 15 Supreme Court justices at the first judicial overhaul hearing in Jerusalem, September 12, 2023 (Photo by Yonatan Sindel/FLASH90)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.