President Isaac Herzog said that he is devoting all of his time and energy to finding a solution to the controversy surrounding the government’s planned judicial reforms.
“It is no secret that I devote all my time and energy to finding agreements that will rescue us from the constitutional and social crisis we are in,” Herzog said at a conference in Tel Aviv Monday evening.
“We are in a very serious situation which may have political, economic, social and security consequences,” he said. “This is not a political compromise, this is a Sisyphean effort to find a correct formula of balance and hope. Because the situation is very difficult and worrying.
The President has been attempting for weeks to bring the two sides together to hash out a negotiated solution on the judicial reform issue, but the opposition refuses to negotiate unless the current legislation is halted, while the coalition has refused to freeze the legislation.
On Sunday, the President met with Knesset Constitution Committee chairman MK Simcha Rothman, one of the key architects of the judicial reform bills.

On Thursday night, President Herzog demanded that the government immediately freeze the current judicial reform legislation.
“The sights we saw today are a nightmare for the country. Enough. I can no longer watch our nation being torn apart before our very eyes. What is happening here is a disaster. Citizens of Israel – I work for you, for you, and only for you. I see the sights and hear the cries that are addressed to me and have only one goal: to do everything I can to make it stop, and to find a solution. I accept with love every harsh and painful criticism, however difficult and painful it may be. But I want to make it clear that I will not give up. I will pay any price to find a solution, on the condition that it happens now. Because we don’t have any time left,” Herzog said.
Herzog added that “I’ve been working around the clock for ten weeks now. I meet with everyone, even those who don’t agree with me, even those who won’t admit [that they have met with me] I recruit everyone to the cause, even those who are afraid to take responsibility. I am doing everything I can to preserve Israeli society, everything I can to preserve Israeli democracy.”
The president also claimed that an outline on judicial reform which enjoys a broad consensus can be reached soon. “Don’t believe anyone who speaks in my name. When there is a presidential outline, you will hear about it from me in person. I can say the following right now: I managed to close many of the gaps between the two sides. There is agreement on most issues. True, not on everything, but on the overwhelming majority. It is certainly enough to justify abandoning the legislation in its current form, and to present a different outline, one that all can agree upon, to the Knesset’s Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee in its place.
“There already exists the basis for a swift resolution in which the only winners are the State of Israel and its citizens. The set of legislation currently being discussed in the committee needs to be entirely erased, and fast. It is wrong, it is destructive, it undermines the democratic foundations of the country. Therefore, it must be replaced with another, agreed-upon outline, and immediately.”