Justice minister meets MK Edelstein in bid to whip votes for overhaul legislation
After last month’s passage of ‘reasonableness’ law, the Likud MK signaled he won’t automatically support further laws relating to judiciary
Justice Minister Yariv Levin met with Likud MK Yuli Edelstein on Wednesday as part of an apparent effort to shore up support to advance additional bills in the government’s judicial overhaul program.
A number of anti-government demonstrators rallied outside Edelstein’s home in Herzliya as the two talked inside.
Edelstein wrote about the meeting on X: “The issue of reforming and improving the judicial system also came up among other topics. Without delving into the content of the conversation, throughout my years I have done, am doing, and will continue to do my best for the State of Israel and the people of Israel.”
Edelstein was one of several lawmakers in the ruling party who signaled they may not back further legislation in the absence of broad support, after the coalition last month passed the first law in the planned shakeup of the judiciary.
“This thing where any time there’s a compromise [or offer], someone in the coalition vetoes it or makes threats — that’s over,” Edelstein told Channel 12 news last month.
In March, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu briefly fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant following the latter’s calls to freeze legislation on the judicial overhaul. In turn, widespread protests erupted, causing the government to freeze legislation and hold negotiations with the opposition at the President’s Residence.
The talks ended in June without a compromise, leading to the passage of the first overhaul bill – the “reasonableness” law, which curtails judicial review – 64-0, with the opposition boycotting the vote.
The opposition walked away from the talks, saying the coalition had acted in bad faith on a related issue: its efforts to avoid staffing and convening the committee that elects new judges, allegedly in a bid to wait until the composition of the panel could be changed in order to give the government more influence.
The meeting between Edelstein and Levin came as President Isaac Herzog issued a fresh compromise proposal for judicial reform. Wednesday’s proposal addresses the issue of judicial appointments, perhaps the most contentious in the entire overhaul package.
Herzog suggested that one of the judges on the Judicial Selection Committee be selected by the justice minister, thus giving the coalition more influence over the appointment of judges. The proposal would allow the appointed judge to be retired and wouldn’t require that the judge be a Supreme Court justice. The government has sought a majority on the panel, which would essentially give it control of all judicial appointments.
Herzog’s new proposal also calls for continuing legislation on the “reasonableness” law in order to further “soften” the law’s effects, and that all further legislation on the legal system be passed by broad consensus.
Herzog’s previous proposal for compromise said that judicial review could be exercised on Knesset legislation only if the decision was made by a majority of seven out of 11 justices. Regarding government legal advisers, the previous proposal said that while a legal adviser’s opinion would be binding, a minister could seek out private representation in cases of disagreement.
According to a Channel 12 report, it is unclear at this point whether there are new proposals regarding judicial review and the authority of government legal advisers.
Last month, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid demanded an 18-month freeze on legislation aimed at overhauling the judiciary as a condition for his Yesh Atid party to return to negotiations with the coalition on judicial reforms. Netanyahu’s Likud rejected the request.
