Knesset summer session opens with slugging match over judicial overhaul
Netanyahu to opposition: ‘All you say at the talks is – no, no, no’; Lapid: If the PM cares about unity, he should bury the controversial legislation
A day after the Knesset opened its summer session, tensions quickly ratcheted up in the plenum: A Monday debate deteriorated into a rowdy mudslinging match between coalition and opposition over the government’s plans for a far-reaching shakeup of the judiciary, currently on hold.
The Knesset convened for a so-called “40-signatures” debate, requiring the prime minister to attend. Opposition lawmakers had gathered the required number of signatures for the meeting, under the title of legislating a constitution for the country. Opposition MKs are calling for Israel to finally lay down a constitution based on its 1948 Declaration of Independence, as part of their opposition to the move to radically change Israel’s semi-constitutional Basic Laws under the overhaul plan.
In the end, the discussion ended up largely focusing on the overhaul itself, with each side accusing the other of being the obstacle to an acceptable resolution.
After insisting on his commitment to reaching a broad agreement on judicial reform in talks being brokered by President Isaac Herzog, the prime minister attacked the opposition at the plenum, accusing it of being uncompromising in its position and thus thwarting efforts to reach an agreement on the divisive legislation.
Opposition leader and head of the Yesh Atid party MK Yair Lapid told Netanyahu that if he truly sought unity he would stop the plan and let the country’s political debates focus on issues the public wants to see addressed.
Critics of the plan say it will sap the High Court of Justice of its ability to act as a check and balance on parliament and the government. The government and its supporters say the legislation is needed to rein in an over-intrusive court. Herzog has been hosting talks to reach an agreement between government and opposition representatives at his official home in Jerusalem, but there has been no breakthrough.
“You talk only about dialogue, but at the talks say, ‘No, no, no, no.’ I would be happy to hear what you do agree to,” Netanyahu told lawmakers. “I call on you to listen, come to your senses, chart a new course, and enter into real talks with us to try to reach agreements.”
Netanyahu painted opposition criticism voiced during the Knesset meeting as “slander and incitement,” and said that the huge demonstrations by hundreds of thousands of people, for and against the judicial overhaul, are “a testament to our vibrant democracy.”
Responding to Netanyahu’s plenum speech, opposition leader Yair Lapid reiterated his call for the coalition to shelve its proposals to overhaul the judiciary.
“If the unity of the nation is important to you, stop, and everything will balance out,” Lapid told the Knesset. “If you do your job as the government, there will be unity in the nation.”
“We’ll continue to argue, I’ll continue to think that this government is horrifying and a failure — but it will be a fight about issues that are really important to Israeli citizens, about economics and security,” he added.
Yesh Atid MK Karine Elharrar told lawmakers “There is no escaping a constitution, a constitution that will guarantee individual rights.”
MK Simcha Rothman, a member of the coalition’s far-right Religious Zionism party, who has led the parliamentary push on the overhaul, countered that the reason some want a constitution is “because they want to take away the Knesset’s power.”
As he spoke, he was heckled with calls of “charlatan” and “liar,” Channel 12 reported.
Yisrael Beytenu party leader Avigdor Liberman attacked Netanyahu over the rising costs of living, listing basic items that have gone up in price since the new government took over.
“You are leading the Israel economy to a crash,” Liberman accused.
At one point, Netanyahu left the plenum hall for a short time, leading Labor party MK Gilad Kariv to demand that the discussion be halted until the prime minister returned.
During his speeches, Netanyahu also spoke of the “joint effort between Israel and the US to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons,” saying the threat from Iran is not just to Israel, “but also to the US and the entire free world.”
Before the debate began, there was an official opening ceremony for the summer session attended by Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who pledged that the US would continue to fully fund Israel’s security needs, while denouncing Iranian aggression in the Middle East, as well as efforts to isolate Israel internationally.
Earlier, Knesset factions held their first weekly meetings of the summer session. Opposition MK Benny Gantz, who leads the National Unity party, told his lawmakers that there has been no progress in the negotiations for an agreement on the judicial overhaul.
Netanyahu paused the legislation at the end of the previous session a month ago, saying he was doing so to allow time for talks, in light of countrywide protests by hundreds of thousands of Israelis who said the legislation would destroy Israeli democracy by removing critical checks on the power of the executive.
The Times of Israel Community.