President Isaac Herzog continued Tuesday mediation efforts between coalition and opposition leaders and hosted separately Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, State Party chairman Benny Gantz and head of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee Simcha Rothman to discuss the judicial reform.
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In the meetings, Herzog "reiterated his call for dialogue and the pursuit of as broad agreements as possible for the good of the State of Israel and its citizens" – a statement by his office said – and discussed with the lawmakers the five principles he had presented earlier in the week "to resolve this difficult dispute."
These include the passage of a Basic Law: The Constitution that would establish "constitutional stability" by clarifying the relations among the three branches and between various laws. He also said the number of judges must be increased to decrease judicial workload, and the courts must be made to function more efficiently so that cases won't drag on. And he urged a change in the way judges are selected so that no branch of government has a majority say in choosing them. In his final principle, Herzog took a position advocated by proponents of reform, arguing against the judicial rationale of "reasonability," whereby judges can overturn laws based on whether they consider them "reasonable."
After the meeting, Lapid said he appreciated Herzog's "efforts and concern for the State of Israel," and said he had presented the president "with the basic lines that we will not compromise on."
Previously, Rothman (Religious Zionist Party) said that while there were some issues he was willing to discuss, he would not negotiate with regard to the demand that politicians select the majority of Supreme Court Judges and that a Knesset majority be able to overrule court decisions. In a Facebook video session held together with party leader Bezalel Smotrich to address concerns, he said the judicial reform would actually align Israel with other democratic nations and said the Opposition was "unwilling to talk."
Indeed, Lapid did turn down the coalition's request for negotiations on Tuesday, saying he was only willing to do so if the judicial reform was paused immediately. Gantz too made clear that "suspending the legislation is a first condition for any dialogue" and said the judicial legislation "would dismantle the [current] system and in its place establish a tyranny of the majority, which is not democracy."
JNS.org contributed to this report.
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