Live UpdateFrom the Liveblog of Monday, January 9, 2023

Lapid says judicial reform proposal is actually ‘extreme regime change’

9 January 2023, 2:42 pm 0 Edit

Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid speaks during a faction meeting at the Knesset on January 2, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Speaking at a Yesh Atid faction meeting, opposition leader Yair Lapid continues his harsh criticism of the government’s judicial reform plans.

“This isn’t judicial reform — this is extreme regime change, this is canceling the Declaration of Independence, this is cutting Israel off from the family of liberal countries,” Lapid says. “This isn’t fixing democracy — this is eliminating democracy.”

“A country in which the government can do anything is not a democracy,” he adds. “A government which, in the course of one morning, cancels all the checks and balances that exist on power is not a democracy.”