Herzog judicial reform proposal stalls as Likud MKs express loyalty

President Isaac Herzog’s proposal on Sunday evening to halt the government’s proposed judicial reform before the first reading of the bill reaches the Knesset plenum seemed irrelevant on Tuesday as the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee resumed debating it.

Monday’s mass protests also did not seem to sway the coalition. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly condemned the protests outside the Knesset on Monday afternoon, which were attended by more than 90,000 people. Opposition leaders were “deliberately dragging the country down into anarchy,” he said.

“The opposition is running amok inside the Knesset, and MKs are jumping on the tables,” Netanyahu said in a video. “At the leftist demonstration, they are calling the prime minister a traitor.”

Danon to Lapid: Don't try to convince Likud MKs to oppose judicial reform

Likud MK Danny Danon on Tuesday rejected opposition leader Yair Lapid’s call on Monday for seven Likud MKs to oppose the reforms.

“Lapid, do not try turning to anyone on the Right,” he said on Army Radio. “We are determined to carry out the reform. Perhaps Lapid got confused regarding the word ‘dialogue.’ We support dialogue, but not capitulation. We are approaching this reform from a position of strength, and we have full public backing both outside and within the Knesset.”

Danon’s comments came in response to Lapid’s statements at a joint press conference on Monday with National Unity chairman Benny Gantz, Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman and Labor chairwoman Merav Michaeli. Lapid appealed directly to seven Likud MKs to voice their reservations: Danon, Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter, Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Economy Minister Nir Barkat, Energy Minister Israel Katz and Knesset Economy Committee chairman David Bitan.

Lapid mentioned Dichter’s service as the head of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), Edelstein being a former “prisoner of Zion” and Gallant’s long IDF career. All of these politicians knew the problematic aspects of judicial reform, and it was time for them to step up and do what was right, he said.

Several Likud MKs and ministers who were “elected on the judicial reform ticket” had agreed in a joint discussion on Monday to “advance leaving the coalition and the party” if there would be any significant compromise on the reform, Army Radio reported Tuesday.

Some Likud MKs expressed similar sentiments.

The reform would pass “whether you like it not,” Likud MK David Amsalem said to the opposition on Monday in the Knesset plenum.

On Tuesday, Likud MK May Golan said: “Without the legal reform, there is no fight against terrorism and deporting families of terrorists to Gaza or deportation of infiltrators who rape Jewish women in south Tel Aviv.”

Levin and Law Committee chairman Simcha Rothman (Religious Zionist Party) on Monday evening offered to meet Lapid and Gantz at the President’s Residence without preconditions. The two opposition members responded by saying they would only meet if the legislative process was frozen.

The first part of the reform will likely reach the plenum next Monday, seemingly leaving the sides a week to negotiate. However, the committee’s resumption of debates indicated that the coalition was not willing to slow the process.

Protest groups announced a number of additional demonstrations, saying the Law Committee was continuing to “trample democracy.” Strikes and traffic disruptions would worsen “until the total scrapping of the plan to destroy Israeli democracy,” the organizers said.

A protest is scheduled for Thursday evening outside the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem. Weekly protests throughout the country on Saturday night also would continue, the organizers said.