Israel’s opposition never said they wanted to end judicial reform negotiations at the President’s Residence, opposition head Yair Lapid told 103FM on Tuesday morning.
In the interview, Lapid said that unilateral legislation of the judicial reform “burns all the rules,” adding that “Netanyahu is giving in to [Justice Minister Yariv] Levin and [law committee chairman Simcha] Rothman in order to maintain his failing government.”
In regard to negotiations, Lapid said that the opposition never said it would cancel its part in the talks.
“Netanyahu is giving in to [Justice Minister Yariv] Levin and [law committee chairman Simcha] Rothman in order to maintain his failing government.”
MK Yair Lapid
“We told them ‘pick a [opposition] representative for the [Judicial Selection] Committee, and we will continue the talks,'” he said.
Lapid also said there was no point in negotiations if legislation was going to continue, saying that “their commitment to the president was freezing all legislation as long as we were negotiating at the President’s Residence.”
THE KNESSET will return to session next week amid the temporary freeze in the judicial reform legislation. (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)Lapid claimed that the coalition was breaking its agreement with the opposition.
“There was an agreement – we go vote in a [Judicial Selection] Committee and go back to negotiating,” he claimed. “They didn’t choose a committee because they got into one of their ridiculous disagreements.”
Netanyahu announces unilateral judicial reform legislation
On Sunday, Netanyahu announced that the coalition would go forward with unilateral legislation of the judicial reform, and later in the evening, he gather the coalition leaders to a meeting where they decided on a series of steps to forward the reform even without agreements in negotiations.
Among the decisions made, the coalition agreed to begin with the reasonability clause that would allow Shas leader Aryeh Deri to be a minister despise the High Court of Justice disqualifying him. The clause is expected to pass the law committee on Wednesday and progress to Knesset votes shortly after.
Lapid said that this decision was made to “return a convicted criminal to the government,” adding that “they want to run over the court and fire the attorney general for the crime of being appointed by the previous government.”
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