Opposition leader Yair Lapid reacted angrily to the coalition’s decision to advance part of its planned judicial reforms this week after the opposition froze the judicial reform negotiations at the President’s Residence. The coalition is seeking to pass a bill limiting the Supreme Court’s ability to use the ‘reasonableness standard’ to strike down government actions.
Lapid accused Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Knesset Constitution Committee chairman Simcha Rothman of “doing everything they can” to destroy the possibility that the negotiations would be resumed.
“We all know what the price will be: the economy will deteriorate sharply, the cost of living will rise, security will be seriously damaged, the countries of the world will turn their backs on us, Israeli society will collapse,” he claimed.
Lapid called the decision to advance part of the judicial reforms now “insane” and demanded that the coalition immediately appoint a representative to the judicial selection committee so that the negotiations can be resumed. The opposition froze the talks in response to the government’s delay in fully establishing the selection committee.

“To stop Israel from collapsing from within, Netanyahu must stop the unilateral legislative processes in the Constitution Committee just before they get out of control, and complete the process of establishing the judicial selection committee,” he said. “It’s a simple and short process. It includes one vote in the plenary which can be held in the next few days. After that, we can return to the President’s Residence and continue the negotiations until we reach agreements that will preserve democracy and prevent a national disaster.”
He added: “In recent months we have been conducting tough, cautious and exhausting negotiations there on each and every clause. We will not bow down and never give up on our liberal values, but not every change is the end of democracy and not every amendment is a reason for civil war. The experts of the “Israeli Democracy Institute” closely accompany the process on our behalf. They have the expertise to warn of any attempt to sneak anti-democratic clauses into the room.”
“If the government tries to take over the judicial selection committee or erode the independence of the Supreme Court, we will immediately leave the President’s Residence. As long as this is not on the agenda, we should continue to try to reach an agreed outline that will preserve Israeli democracy.”