Lapid, judicial overhaul planners trade blame on offer of compromise talks

Justice Minister Yariv Levin and the head of the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, MK Simcha Rothman, respond to Opposition Leader Yair Lapid’s rejection of their offer for talks at the President’s Residence without preconditions.

Lapid has said a condition to discuss a compromise on President Isaac Herzog’s compromise proposal on the government’s judicial overhaul is an immediate, temporary halt to all legislative efforts to advance it.

“We were very saddened to read to opposition leader’s statement, which signals that his only motivation is to stop the legislation and not to hold genuine dialogue,” Levin and Rothman say in a joint statement.

“We would be happy to meet as early as tonight with any opposition official who’s interested in dialogue,” they add, likely referring to National Unity party chief Benny Gantz, who was mentioned in the invitation and hasn’t yet responded.

Lapid retorts in a statement that Levin and Rothman’s invitation hadn’t been serious, or else “they would have agreed to stop the legislation until the end of the talks, and perhaps would have also made the effort to update the president and me of their proposal ahead of time, instead of us hearing about it through the media.”