Knesset committee okays first step in new judicial overhaul, in session boycotted by the opposition
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter

The Knesset Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee approves the first procedural stage in the legislative process for a bill proposed by Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar to make far-reaching changes to the way judicial appointments are made.
Because Levin’s original judicial overhaul legislation, which was approved in committee but never brought for its final votes in the Knesset plenum, dealt with the same issues and laws that Levin and Sa’ar’s new proposal does, the revised legislation does not need to begin the legislative process from scratch.
Instead, the Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee votes to renew deliberations on the original bill in order to implement the changes delineated in the new proposals to the old legislation.
The motion is approved unanimously since the opposition decides to boycott the proceedings on the grounds that Levin and Sa’ar did not engage in any consultative process with the opposition or judiciary when drafting their new proposals.
“Since this is a hearing about agreements which the coalition reached among itself alone, we don’t see a reason for the presence of the opposition in the hearing retracting the bill from the plenum agenda and returning it to the committee,” the party heads of the coalition say in a joint statement.
They add that members of the opposition will, however, be present for deliberations on the substance of the legislation.