Chairman of Yesh Atid and head of the opposition, Yair Lapidspoke today (Wednesday) in the Knesset Plenum, referring to the process of negotiating the reform of the judicial system together with the President Yitzhak Herzogand revealed his conditions for the negotiation process.
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“We are in the midst of the greatest national crisis in the country’s history,” Lapid said at the beginning of his remarks, “This crisis is already hurting the economy. Senior officials of the banking system explained yesterday to the Minister of Finance that money is already fleeing Israel. This will harm the livelihood of every Israeli citizen. The crisis is hurting national security. More Above all, the very idea that we are one people is in danger.”
“The government has responsibility. With power comes responsibility. To strengthen the economy, to strengthen security, to strengthen the unity of the people. This government is doing exactly the opposite,” he added, “Netanyahu and Levin brought this upon us, it is appropriate that they hold an emergency discussion on this. Instead To do something substantial, real, in the face of a national crisis, they invented another exercise in public relations. Levin and Rothman announced with fake drama that they were inviting the opposition to a nightly discussion with the president.”
Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid (Photo: Marek Israel Salem)
“They knew, of course, that this was an empty proposal. After all, not only I, the president also told them in advance – they should first announce that they are stopping the legislation before the first reading. They didn’t do that, because all they were interested in was the message to the media. They didn’t even They took the trouble to inform the president in advance that they were inviting themselves to his home,” the head of the opposition noted.
Lapid then stated that “in order to promote national dialogue, so that we are not torn into two peoples, I want to put on the table here what a proper procedure looks like. The starting point is an announcement about the suspension of the legislation for 60 days before the first reading, to allow the president to lead the process. 60 days is the blink of an eye in the life of democracy. We have waited 74 years, nothing will happen if it takes a few more weeks, thanks to which we will save the people of Israel from a terrible crisis. In these 60 days, the president will establish a professional team headed by him that will lead a national debate, in the presidential residence, which will begin first All in creating a professional infrastructure.”
“The president will invite the Kohalat Forum and the Israel Democracy Institute, the ‘Purpose’ Institute, the Jewish People’s Policy Institute, experts in constitutional law from the academy to him – and formulate an initial position paper with them, which will outline the agreements and differences of opinion. During the formulation of this position paper, the president will also invite Gov. The Bank of Israel and the Chief Economist at the Treasury, the Chief of Staff and the heads of the security system, to prevent a situation where the legislation will cause economic and security damage. At the moment there is no such process, in which there is an in-depth examination of the economic and security consequences,” explained Lapid.
Yair Lapid, Benny Gantz, Yariv Levin, Simcha Rothman (Photo: Mark Israel Salem)
“In the next step, the president will invite to him the representatives of the legal system, first and foremost the President of the Supreme Court, the Honorable Judge Ester Hayut, current and former supreme judges and the Legal Adviser to the Government, to get their response and position on the position paper that was formulated. In the next step, the president will invite to him – separately – the representatives of the coalition and the representatives of the opposition to get their comments on paper,” he said, “Only after that will the president’s team formulate his proposal. This proposal will be submitted to the Israeli public for consideration and then the president will invite the representatives of the coalition and the opposition once more, this time together, to To hold continuous negotiations through his mediation that will lead to a real, agreed upon reform that will not dismantle democracy and the separation of powers, but will strengthen it.”
Lapid also noted that “this is how a serious procedure should be conducted on a serious issue, in contrast to the hasty, irresponsible, biased and destructive procedure that is being conducted in the Knesset today. I have said many times over the years and in the past few weeks, there is no system that has nothing to fix and improve, including the legal system But if you want to correct it, you need to correct it in due process. Last night I sat down with President Herzog and we had an in-depth discussion on the issue, not for the first time. President Herzog is the president who was elected with the largest majority in the history of the house. He is accepted by both sides of the house and is also a talented jurist.”
Yitzhak Herzog (Photo: Haim Tzach for the Jewish community)
“If Herzog leads the process, maybe no one will get everything they want, but we will all get more. It will be a sustainable outline, the next government will not feel it is their duty to cancel it immediately. Unity with the people of Israel and Israeli democracy will be saved,” added the chairman There is a future and he said: “My friends in the coalition, you won the elections. No one claims otherwise. But winning the elections does not make all your actions legal. You cannot tomorrow morning pass a law that says women are not allowed to leave the house, you cannot pass a law that Shas voters are allowed to run a red light, and you cannot pass a law that abolishes the separation of powers and Israeli democracy.”
In closing, Lapid said: “Hundreds of thousands of people went up to Jerusalem on Monday. These people are Zionists, they are patriots, they are full of love for Israel. These people are the servants of the state and its loyalists, as well as its developers and builders. They came to tell the government that they will not be silent or sit on the sidelines and see how Israel is becoming a dictatorship. We are law-abiding citizens, but we are also people who protect their children, their country, and their democracy. If the government wants to make a change, it needs the people’s trust.”