Hi, Namulantakombo here with some exciting news.

My award-winning podcast, Dear Daughter, is back for a second season.

We're bringing you more moving personal stories and more letters of advice from people all around the world.

For Daughters everywhere.

That's Dear Daughter from the BBC World Service. Find it wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

Welcome to Hard Talk on the BBC World Service with me, Stephen Sacka.

When Israel's Prime Minister is forced to hold a meeting with the US Defence Secretary at Tel Aviv Airport,

because protesters have

disrupted transport links across much of the country, you know something pretty extraordinary is

happening. Israel is currently riven with internal division over government plans to radically

overhaul the country's judicial system. To put it crudely, Prime Minister Netanyahu's

ultra-nationalist far-right coalition is intent on imposing its will on Israel's high court, giving

politicians more power over the appointment of judges and giving the Knesset powers to override high court rulings by way of a simple

majority. Now that plan ticks several boxes for the Netanyahu coalition, dismantling what they see

as a liberal elite stranglehold over the court, taming the court at a time when Prime Minister

Netanyahu still faces serious charges of wrongdoing.

Opponents include former military and security chiefs, politicians of different stripes,

and members of the current military reserve. Some of Israel's most senior former officials

have issued dark warnings about dictatorship and possible civil war.

As it happens, this crisis comes at a time when violence is spiraling in Israel's intractable conflict with the Palestinians.

Again, serious questions are being asked about the strategic intentions of the most right-wing government in Israel's history.

My guest is Simcha Rothman, a key architect of the judicial reform plan. Is Israel plunging into

...