Significant progress in talks on a compromise outline between the promoters of the legal reform and its opponents. The talks are conducted informally, away from the public eye.
An official informed of the details of the talks told the Israel Hayom newspaper that “significant progress has been made, agreement has been reached on most issues. Reaching a full outline is a matter of days, not weeks.”
However – the source notes, there is still a serious dispute on the issue of the composition of the committee for the selection of judges. In this issue, it is not certain that it will be possible to reach an agreed compromise.
Both the conservative side and the activist side understand the dramatic importance of the committee’s control in shaping the face of the courts in general and the Supreme Court in particular, and therefore insist that in any formula, the final control will be on their side. “Even regarding the composition of the committee, there are things that have been agreed upon, but here the gaps are still large and difficult,” the source pointed out.
As mentioned, the talks are conducted by non-political parties, but the subjects and givers update the relevant political players on the developments. President Herzog is also supposed to give his patronage to the agreements at the end of the process, if there are any.
The source privy to the details said that aside from the significant progress and the intense dialogue that has been going on for weeks, there is also great suspicion between the parties. Therefore, the discussions are conducted under great secrecy and without the parties fully committing to the positions they presented in the talks. The mutual concern is that each side will use the concessions of the other, in order to leverage them at some point in public opinion, and not in order to reach a final and agreed outline.
For these reasons, and despite the much progress achieved, there is still no certainty that a compromise will eventually be reached.