A day before 1st plenum votes, Herzog optimistic deal can be reached on legal shakeup

A day before the first Knesset plenum votes on parts of the government’s deeply controversial judicial overhaul plan, President Isaac Herzog says he’s still optimistic about chances of securing a compromise reform that would be broadly accepted.

Despite his call last week for negotiations not bearing fruit so far — with the bone of contention being whether the legislative process would continue during such talks — Herzog says that after holding many meetings with politicians and other officials from across the political spectrum, “I say unequivocally, from my experience: We can reach agreement.”

Speaking at a Bible lesson as part of the 929 initiative, the president says that based on the conversations he has held, “agreements can be created, on the basis of the principles I laid out last week, in a relatively short period of time. Even a few days. Not years and not months.”

“We are facing a fateful test,” he adds. “I see before my eyes the rifts and schisms among us, which are currently getting deeper and more painful, and can’t avoid pondering seriously about there being twice in history in which a Jewish state was created in the Land of Israel, and twice in which it collapsed before reaching its 80th year.”