Daily Briefing Feb 14: Raging protest, stormy Knesset panel, preconditions for talks

Knesset reporter Carrie Keller-Lynn and legal reporter Jeremy Sharon were on the scene yesterday inside and outside the Knesset. They weigh in on where matters are heading now

Welcome to The Times of Israel’s Daily Briefing, your 15-minute audio update on what’s happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, from Sunday through Thursday.

Knesset correspondent Carrie Keller-Lynn and legal reporter Jeremy Sharon join host Amanda Borschel-Dan to report on what happened yesterday at the Knesset — inside and out.

We begin with a sense of the magnitude of Monday’s protest as Keller-Lynn describes her commute by train from Tel Aviv and the scene that awaited her in Jerusalem.

At the same time, Sharon was inside the turbulent meeting of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, which is headed by MK Simcha Rothman, who was the subject of this weekend’s What Matters Now podcast. Sharon sets the scene inside the Knesset.

Police sources estimated that about 90,000 people attended the protest, while organizers put the number at 130,000-250,000, and a high-tech group affiliated with the demonstrators went as high as 300,000. Keller-Lynn compares Monday’s protest with those she’s covered for The Times of Israel on Saturday nights in Tel Aviv and discusses just who is organizing them.

We hear where we now stand on the legislation that was heard yesterday and that will be presented in the Knesset this week or next.

President Isaac Herzog took to prime-time television on Sunday night and proposed five steps toward compromise. Last night, the architects of the judicial overhaul, including Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Rothman, appeared to agree to hold compromise talks at the President’s Residence. Are these statements sincere?