Judicial reform bill on Knesset table, drawing opposition criticism

The procedural placing of the judicial reform’s Judicial Selection Committee bill on the Knesset table angered some opposition members on Tuesday morning, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had announced a legislative pause on Monday night. 

Yesh Atid and the National Unity warned that any progress of the Judicial Selection Committee bill would not be allowed during negotiations.

"We hope that the coalition and Netanyahu understand their responsibility," said the joint statement. "If the law goes on the Knesset's agenda, we will immediately leave the room."

“As I warned, Netanyahu lied again,” Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman wrote on Twitter. “Instead of having a real conversation with the president of the state and nursing the rift between the people of Israel, the coalition spits in the public's face and at these moments put the Basic Law: the Judiciary and courts [law] on the Knesset table. This means that at any given moment it can be voted on and passed by the plenary.”

The Constitution, Law and Justice Committee spokesperson explained that the bill had already been transferred to the Knesset plenary on Monday evening prior to Netanyahu’s speech. 

“This is a normal procedure,” said the spokesperson.

After bills are sent from the committee, they are often automatically placed on the table the following Knesset day. The Judicial Selection Committee bill had been approved for second and third readings on Monday morning.

Protest leaders also accussed Netanyahu and the coalition of placing the bill on the Knesset table was part of a fake negotiation.

Anti-reformers criticize the move

Liberman said that the placing of the bill on the table was a “gun to the temple.” Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak also described the bill as a gun placed to one’s head during negotiations. On Monday Barak called for the cancellation of the bill in response to Netanyahu’s legislative freeze, saying that the move was an attempt to calm protests.

Labor leader Merav Michaeli warned on Monday that the opposition was falling into a trap of delays and negotiation.

"The coup d'état laws must be finally and completely scrapped and shelved,” wrote Michaeli. “Consign this abomination to the dustbin of history.”

The Movement for Quality Government in Israel on Monday also called for a continuation of the lobbying against the legislation, saying there was no good faith in Netanyahu's announcement.

"The coup laws must be shelved completely,” said MQG. “Do not pause or stop. shelve. The delay of the legislation looks like a cheap political exercise designed entirely to wait for a good time when the anti-democratic legislative blitz will come back into our lives.”