When Israeli lawmakers passed a deeply contentious law last Monday to weaken the Supreme Court, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not linger in the voting chamber to celebrate. Instead, the justice minister, Yariv Levin, an architect of the legislation, stayed to pose for selfies with fellow lawmakers as Mr. Netanyahu walked somberly from the room. Mr. Levin, not the prime minister, made a celebratory speech from the podium. “We have made the first step in the important historic process of repairing the justice system,” Mr. Levin said. The prime minister was no longer there to hear him.

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Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Yariv Levin, Netanyahu, somberly, Levin, Mr, Netanyahu — Israel’s, —