MK Avigdor Liberman, who heads the Yisrael Beytenu party, called the negotiations on judicial reform a “grave mistake” and urged the opposition parties involved in them to cease talks immediately.
“The continued talks in the President’s Residence and the pretend games between the coalition and opposition are a grave mistake,” Liberman tweeted.
“Unfortunately, [MK Yair] Lapid and [MK Benny] Gantz are playing into [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s hands and helping him achieve his central goal: passing the budget by the end of the month, as the law requires, since if the budget does not pass, the Knesset will dissolve.
“I suggest that my friends learn a bit from the behavior of the previous opposition leader, Netanyahu, who absolutely refused to cooperate with the previous government, even on issues which he himself had advanced in the past – for instance, Judea and Samaria regulations, and the Citizenship Law. It’s true that unlike Netanyahu and his scarecrows, we do get stomachaches over the soldiers, over the abused women, or over rape cases, and unlike them we will not act against the public, values, and our ideology. But our job is to be an opposition which fights for the future of the State of Israel, and also to know when not to compromise when we need to reach agreements, and thereby preserve the State as Zionist, democratic, and liberal.”

He added: “Let it be clear: During every day that passes with Lapid and Gantz continuing this behavior, they are simply serving Netanyahu. No one should have any doubts or illusions: The day after Netanyahu passes the budget, he will blame the opposition for making the talks fail and immediately resume his attempts to take over the judicial system and the Central Elections Committee.”
On Monday night, Netanyahu said that the opposition parties claim to promote dialogue, but are unwilling to reach agreements on any real issues.
“You only talk about dialogue but in talks say, ‘No, no, no, no,'” he told the representatives of the Yesh Atid and National Unity parties. “I would be happy to hear what you do agree to.”