Lapid calls for 60-day pause in judicial overhaul legislation

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid calls on the government to pause its judicial reform legislation for 60 days in order to enable dialogue with opposition parties.

Lapid’s statement comes a day after he met with President Isaac Herzog to discuss the five-point judicial reform development plan that Herzog presented to the nation on Sunday.

Herzog also met with National Unity party leader Benny Gantz and MK Simcha Rothman, head of the Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee, who is one of the key architects of the coalition’s reform.

Yesh Atid party chief Lapid said that the “starting point” for dialogue would be the coalition announcing a 60-day halt before bringing its first judicial reform bill for its first reading, currently slated for Monday.

This would “allow the president to lead the process,” Lapid added.

“We have been waiting for 74 years,” he said, referring to the years since the founding of the state. “Nothing will happen if it takes a few more weeks, thanks to which we will save the people of Israel from a terrible crisis.” Lapid said the current reform plan and the mass protests and professional criticism it has drawn is widening cracks in Israeli society.

If accepted, the legislative timeout would push the contentious reform into the next legislative session, as the Knesset is on pause for the majority of April.