Judicial reform talks between teams representing the coalition, Yesh Atid party and National Unity party on Sunday focused on the makeup of a future Basic Law: The Legislature and were held in a “professional and good” atmosphere, the Office of the President said at the close of a day of talks at Jerusalem’s Waldorf Astoria hotel on Sunday over the government’s proposed judicial reforms.
The talks began in earnest last Monday, and the teams have already completed four full days of discussions.
According to the president’s statement, the sides on Sunday focused both on the requirements to amend a Basic Law, as well as how the High Court can cancel a regular law.
“The sides agreed, among other things, that a Basic Law: The Legislature is central to regulating the relations between the branches of government, and a step forwards towards a constitutional consensus,” the president’s office said.
All of the participants in the room “expressed hope that the holy Remembrance Day will pass with mutual respect between all parts of the nation,” it added.
DEMONSTRATORS SUPPORTING the government’s plans for a judicial reform gather in Jerusalem on March 27 at the same time as anti-reform protesters, also carrying flags, rally elsewhere in the city. (credit: RONEN ZVULUN/REUTERS)The sides will next meet on Thursday.
The Knesset is scheduled to begin its summer session next week, and it remains to be seen whether or not the coalition will resume its attempt to push through some of the judicial reform laws without broad consensus.
A large demonstration in favor of the reforms is expected on Thursday evening in Jerusalem.
On the government’s agenda
Also on Sunday, the Social-Economic Cabinet convened for the first time since it was formed in a government decision on February 12.
The main item on the cabinet’s agenda was a new framework agreement with Israel Railways until 2026, which included a NIS 46 billion development plan and a NIS 16 billion operating agreement. A draft of the agreement was published for public review in November 2022, during the previous government’s tenure.
The framework agreement included NIS 200 million for planning of a train between Kiryat Shmona and Eilat.
A discussion was also held about track electrification work on Saturday’s, which the haredi parties oppose due to the desecration of the Sabbath.
According to Channel 12, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said during the discussion that since the Ayalon Highway was being blocked by protestors, it could also be blocked during the week for electrification work in order to avoid work on Sabbath.
Yisrael Hayom reported that Housing and Construction Minister Yizhak Goldknopf (United Torah Judaism) expressed his opposition to the work on Sabbath, and was opposed by Tourism Minister Haim Katz (Likud), who argued that shutting down work on Sabbath would make the work drag on for years. Deputy Transportation Minister Uri Makev (UTJ) claimed that insisting to work on the Sabbath would create “unnecessary coalition crises,” Yisrael Hayom added.
A number of opposition Knesset members, including Yisrael Beytenu’s Avigdor Liberman, National Unity Ze’ev Elkin and Labor’s Naama Lazimi, criticized the cabinet over the fact that it did not convene until now, and over what they claimed was its focus on work on Sabbath and not on more pressing issues.
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