Citing ‘deep and worrying crisis,’ Herzog calls for return to judicial talks

President Isaac Herzog repeats his call for coalition and opposition representatives to resume judicial reform negotiations under his mediation, as the Knesset is due to begin voting on a controversial bill that would block the judiciary from exercising scrutiny over the “reasonableness” of government decisions.

“It’s possible to reach agreement. The sole and most simple solution is to sit and talk,” he says at a public event.

Herzog hails the growing calls of support — “openly and privately” — for the resumption of the talks “regarding the foundational issues tearing us apart,” which he says included the so-called reasonableness bill.

“In the middle of a deep and worrying crisis, the responsible thing to do as a leader is to sit, talk and put Israeli unity before everything,” he says.

He also says both coalition and opposition leaders “must speak and mend the split, and this must happen now.”