Liberman: Judicial panel vote ‘one big show’ that Netanyahu staged with Lapid, Gantz
Yisrael Beytenu head again claims his fellow opposition chiefs have cut deal with PM and Aryeh Deri that would return the latter to cabinet after court ruled he can’t be a minister
Yisrael Beytenu chief Avigdor Liberman on Saturday claimed the political chaos surrounding this week’s vote for the Judicial Selections Committee was in fact “one big show” that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a top political ally staged with opposition leaders.
Citing talks he held with “a series of very senior Likud officials” since opposition candidate Karine Elharrar was elected to the panel Wednesday, Liberman alleged Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid and Blue and White head Benny Gantz coordinated the vote with Netanyahu and Shas chief Aryeh Deri.
“The interest of Lapid and Gantz is to show ‘an achievement’ in the Knesset vote, Netanyahu’s interest is to freeze the [judicial overhaul] so he can go to Washington and soften the protests, and Deri’s interest is to continue the talks at the President’s Residence to pave his path to the government,” Liberman wrote on Twitter.
Deri, whose ultra-Orthodox Shas party is closely aligned with Netanyahu, was appointed health and interior minister after the right-religious coalition took power but was later stripped of those posts by the High Court due to his past criminal convictions and since-scrapped pledge to leave poltics.
While the government’s far-reaching plans to overhaul the judiciary could potentially allow Deri to return as a minister, those have been paused since late March when Netanyahu paused the entire legislative push to allow for the negotiations amid nationwide mass protests and growing public opposition to the overhaul.
According to Liberman, Netanyahu and Deri were concerned about public backlash over selecting an opposition representative to the committee “and that everything would blow up.” He asserted they therefore decided to work “in full coordination” with Gantz and Lapid, whose decision to freeze the judicial negotiations he claimed was a “deception.”
“It’s all a bluff,” Liberman charged.
He also accused Lapid and Gantz of “lifting the white flag and having a fire sale of the liberal public.”
“Unfortunately that’s the truth behind the talks at the President’s Residence and the vote at the Knesset on Wednesday,” he added.
There was no immediate response from Lapid or Gantz, though a Yesh Atid lawmaker strenuously denied there was any agreement while swiping at Liberman, who has previously been allied with Netanyahu and Deri before breaking with them after elections in April 2019.
“We never did secret deals with the other side, never sat in the same government as Deri and co. and never strayed from the path. We don’t need a kosher stamp from anyone,” tweeted MK Vladimir Beliak.
Liberman first publicly leveled the accusations against his fellow opposition party leaders on Monday, predicting they would fold to certain coalition demands in exchange for the seat on the Judicial Selection Committee and that the announcement of a deal was imminent.
Similar to Liberman, cabinet secretary Yossi Fuchs briefly claimed Wednesday that opposition representatives had agreed as part of talks to enable a mechanism whereby Deri could be reinstated as a cabinet member.
Fuchs initially said the opposition had agreed to legislation that would stop the Supreme Court from using the judicial test of “reasonableness” for cabinet appointments, such as that which was used to ban Deri from holding office.
“We received from the other side an answer that if we want the agreement that we are putting together on reasonableness to include the appointment of ministers — and the meaning is that Aryeh Deri can return to the government — this is accepted,” Fuchs said during an interview with the Kan public broadcaster.
Opposition parties immediately blasted Fuchs’s comments as a fabrication.
“A complete lie,” said a spokesman for Yesh Atid, while National Unity called Fuchs’s claim “a pathetic lie.”
“The cabinet secretary should remember he’s a public servant and not a political activist who can spread fake news,” the latter party said in a statement.
Fuchs quickly backtracked, telling Galey Israel Radio that there “were no agreements” in the compromise talks.
And in a statement posted to Twitter, Fuchs stressed that “the sides have not yet reached agreements on any clause in the judicial reform.”
Despite the reversal, Liberman took a victory lap after the cabinet secretary’s remarks.
“Just as I said, the only agreement reached at the President’s Residence was to add Aryeh Deri to the government’s ranks,” Liberman tweeted.
