Herzog meets Netanyahu, Lapid, Gantz in compromise efforts

President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Sunday evening at Tel Hashomer hospital where the prime minister is recovering from a medical procedure in an attempt to reach a last-minute compromise on the reasonableness standard bill, which is scheduled to pass into law on Monday afternoon.

The president is scheduled to meet with opposition leader MK Yair Lapid later on Sunday evening.

The president’s motorcade traveled to the hospital directly from Ben Gurion International airport, after returning from his trip to the US.

The president said in a statement that he and his team “have been making every effort to reach an agreement between the parties.”

Netanyahu is currently hospitalized due to the insertion of a pacemaker on Saturday evening. The prime minister said in a video statement on Sunday afternoon that he was feeling well and that he would return to the Knesset on Monday morning.

Earlier on Sunday, the Likud rejected a proposal by Arnon Bar-David, the leader of Israel’s national workers union, the Histadrut, and Dubi Amitai, chairman of the presidium of the Israeli business sector, for a compromised version of the reasonableness standard bill, which is scheduled to pass into law on Monday afternoon.

The proposal was published after it was presented to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday, and to opposition leader MK Yair Lapid on Sunday morning.

The unions had given the government a deadline of 4 p.m. on Sunday to stop legislation before they go on strike.

The Likud rejected a proposal by Arnon Bar-David, the leader of Israel’s national workers’ union, the Histadrut, and Dubi Amitai, chairman of the presidium of the Israeli business sector on Sunday for a compromised version of the reasonableness standard bill, which is scheduled to pass into law on Monday afternoon.

The proposal was published after it was presented to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday, and to opposition leader MK Yair Lapid on Sunday morning.

The unions had given the government a deadline of 4 p.m. on Sunday to stop legislation before they go on strike.

The Likud said in a statement, “The Histadrut’s proposal, which is identical to that of [opposition leader MK Yair] Lapid’s, is a one-sided acceptance of the opposition’s position as it had been the entire way. The proposal completely nullifies the proposal on reasonableness, and requires a complete concession of all the other parts of the reform.  We will continue to make every effort for true compromise and expect that all sides seriously enlist for the effort, and not return us to the starting point.”

Lapid responded to the Likud’s rejection of the proposal, tweeting “Once again a compromise and broad agreement is proposed, and once again the opposition is ready to discuss it, but the coalition immediately rejects it outright. It is not clear who decided to say ‘no’ on your behalf, but it is clearer than ever that the extremists in the government decided to push the State of Israel into the abyss.”

National Unity chairman MK Benny Gantz put out a video statement on Sunday evening repeating his call from last week to negotiate an agreement on the reasonableness bill and then commit to passing the rest of the reform with broad consensus only.

Gantz made the argument that if the bill would pass with wide consensus, all of the leaders of the coalition and opposition would commit to not cancelling the bill in the next Knesset so as “not to repeat the upheaval” that the bill was creating. However, without consensus there will be a “reaction,” and should the current opposition take power, it will cancel the bill “the day after the election.”

The “reasonableness standard bill” is an amendment to Basic Law: The Judiciary, that would block Israel’s courts from applying what is known as the “reasonableness standard” to decisions made by elected officials. The standard is a common law doctrine that allows for judicial review against government administrative decisions that are deemed beyond the scope of what a responsible and reasonable authority would undertake.

The bill’s current wording bars use of the standard for decisions made by the prime minister, the cabinet as a whole, or any specific minister. It also bars its use against a minister’s decision not to use his or her authority, and on ministers’ appointments of government workers.

According to Bar-David and Amitai’s proposal, the bill will be altered so that it will apply only to decisions made by the cabinet as a whole. This means that appointments or policy decisions made in the cabinet will be immune from application of the reasonableness standard but the standard will still apply regarding decisions made by individual ministers. If the decisions by individual ministers are on policy matters which are then ratified in the cabinet – they, too, will be exempt from the application of the reasonableness standard.

With regard to governmental appointments, Bar-David and Amitai’s proposal is that appointments that require the Knesset’s approval, such as appointments of ministers, will also be immune to the reasonableness standard, but appointments that do not require the Knesset’s approval, such as director’s general of government ministries or senior bureaucratic positions, will be subject to review via the reasonableness standard.

Finally, all of the changes above will not apply to decisions made during an interim government, i.e. from the moment an election is announced until a new government is formed.

This proposal is identical to one laid out last week by President and CEO of the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) and former dean of the law faculty of Bar-Ilan University, Yedidya Stern, and former Deputy Attorney General Raz Nizri.

Discussion of open dialogue 

However, Bar-David and Amitai added a provision, according to which the government will declare that for the next 18 months, no judicial reform bills will pass without the support of at least 75 Knesset members. Bar-David and Amitai also requested that the prime minister summon the leaders of the opposition for direct negotiations.

The Kaplan Force umbrella protest organizations rejected the proposal.

“The demands of the protest movement have not changed from day one: discarding all of the legislation and declaring that deep changes in the system of government will only be made with broad consensus,” Kaplan Force said in a statement.

“Compromises at the end of which Israel’s becomes a dictatorship are worse than a resolution [of the conflict]. This is a proposal whose entire essence is to bring the criminal [Shas chairman MK Aryeh] Deri back to the government’s table, and will not necessarily prevent the firing of gatekeepers and senior officials in public service if they do not surrender to the whims of politicians.”

Bar-David said after meeting with Lapid, “I will continue to turn over every stone and work with all my might to try and find the right compromise.

“I call on others involved to show responsible leadership.”

Lapid said after the meeting, “The State of Israel is in a critical moment and experiencing a struggle for its image and its soul. It is our duty to make every effort to stop the madness and reach broad agreements. I welcome the efforts of the Histadrut chairman, the outline laid out by the Histadrut is a basis for common dialogue.”

Herzog on way to hospital to meet Netanyahu

President Isaac Herzog released a statement immediately after landing from his trip to the US, that he “and his team have been making every effort to reach an agreement between the parties.”

The statement added that Herzog’s motorcade was making its way to Tel Hashomer Hospital, where Netanyahu is currently hospitalized due to the insertion of a pacemaker on Saturday evening.

JPost