Live Update
From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, May 31, 2023
In Azerbaijan, Herzog says no deadline on judicial reform talks: ‘This is a long process’

President Isaac Herzog and his wife Michal are greeted at the airport in Baku by Jewish schoolchildren from the Chabad Or Avner school, May 30, 2023 (Haim Zach/GPO).
As he wraps up a visit to Azerbaijan, President Isaac Herzog comments on the ongoing judicial reform talks he’s mediating, acknowledging the gap between the sides while stressing he believes a deal is possible.
“This is a long process and I don’t have a deadline,” Herzog says.
He says he’s “not naive” that the negotiations have yet to yield any breakthroughs, adding the talks are currently focused on forging agreement on “essential principles” before getting into the nitty-gritty.
“I know what I am doing is the best for the State of Israel — to reach broad consensus and get out of this difficult strait that threatens to crumble us from within,” he says.