From the Liveblog of
Thursday, September 5, 2024
Lapid hits back at housing minister for accusing him of ‘unbridled arrogance’
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid hits back at Housing Minister Yitzchak Goldknopf after the latter accuses him of “unbridled arrogance” for questioning State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman’s probe of the events of October 7.
After Lapid accused Englman of ordering an investigation “only to help [Netanyahu] evade his duty to establish a state commission of inquiry,” Goldknopf, the chairman of the United Torah Judaism party, tweeted that “as public representatives, we are obligated to maintain and fortify the status of the gatekeepers in the State of Israel, who are entrusted with the maintenance of law and order.”
“Minister Goldknopf, I was happy to find out that you are ‘obliged to maintain and fortify the status of the gatekeepers in the State of Israel,'” Lapid tweets in response. “I am convinced that this means that you will not let anyone touch the attorney general, the state attorney, the High Court of Justice, and the legal advisers of all the ministries.”
Goldknopf’s ultra-Orthodox UTJ party was a strong supporter of the government’s proposed judicial overhaul, which would have curbed the top court’s power of judicial review, limited the power of ministry legal counsels, and split the role of the attorney general into two positions.
Members of the cabinet have called for firing Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, and Justice Minister Yariv Levin has advocated the revival of his now-suspended judicial overhaul effort.
