36 hours have passed since President Herzog proposed the compromise outline, but the coalition and the opposition are unable to reach an agreement. At the center of the controversy: is it an official stop of the legislation or an informal slowdown.
In the shadow of the attempts at compromise, the legislative discussions in the meantime continue, when a constitutional committee will convene to discuss the section on the superseding clause, the third of four in the text of the Judiciary Basic Law. The proposal is intended to reduce the judicial review of ordinary legislation through a superseding clause and setting requirements that annulment of a law will be done only by a full composition of judges of the Supreme Court, with unanimous support, and only if “the law clearly contradicts a provision preserved in the Basic Law”.
The two articles that passed yesterday, the change in the composition of the committee for changing judges and the repeal of the Basic Law by the Beget are expected to be read for the first time in the Knesset plenum next week, after which long and significant discussions are expected for many months on the other articles until and during the summer session of the Knesset that will open after Passover. The coalition is always ready to enter into negotiations until the second and third readings.
In order to coordinate a joint meeting with the President of the State, already yesterday Justice Minister Levin and Constitutional Committee Chairman Rothman called on the heads of the opposition to begin negotiations – without preconditions. On the other hand, Lapid insisted and announced that “the necessary condition for starting a national dialogue is an immediate halt to all legislative processes for a limited time where the talks will take place with the mediation of the president.”
In another joint statement they sent yesterday, Levin and Rothman said that “they would be happy to meet again this evening with any party in the opposition who is interested in real talks”, and a few minutes later Gantz actually accepted the invitation and admitted that he had spoken with Levin, and also reiterated the matter of stopping the legislation and freezing the legislation as a preliminary step.
Opposition Leader Lapid: “If Minister Levin and MK Rothman were serious about their proposal, they would agree to stop the legislation until the end of the negotiations and perhaps even bother to inform the President and me in advance of their proposal instead of hearing about it in the media.”