Rivlin laments ‘illusion of constitutional functionality’ amid political impasse

President Reuven Rivlin takes an apparent swipe at Prime Minister Netanyahu, after the premier appointed a loyalist as justice minister over the objections of the attorney general, before reversing himself before a High Court hearing on the move.

Speaking at an interfaith event in Abu Ghosh, Rivlin credits the “miracle” of Israel’s existence to the “hard work to which we are committed, and it is based, in part, on the foundations of laws, good governance and justice.”

“For some time now, we have been living with the illusion of constitutional functionality between one election campaign and the next, but it appears that yesterday another fence collapsed,” Rivlin says, seemingly referring to the Netanyahu-led transition governments over the past two years of political deadlock.

The president adds: “We must return to the principle according to which the government serves the people, not that the people serves the government.”