Former Minister of Justice, Gideon Saartalked today (Monday) with Anat Davidov andMiracles Mashal on the “Seven Nine” program on 103FM, and referred to the publications that appeared last night on ‘Hadhot 12’ about the wide-ranging changes that will apply to the composition of the committee for the appointment of judges. Among other things, it was announced that the number of judges in the committee will be increased from 9 to 11 and that it will include two Knesset members from the coalition and only one member from the opposition.
At the beginning of the conversation, the pair of presenters wondered to what extent he considered the change in the composition of the committee for the appointment of judges to be a dramatic change. Sa’ar replied that “in the simplest form – a coalition political majority in the committee for the selection of judges will make the selection of judges part of the division of the coalition spoils. And what will the appointments to the courts look like? As we now see the appointment of the CEOs of the government ministries.” He added and claimed that “any person who knows the system Our politician knows what will happen. With all the things that need to be fixed in the judicial system, there is one thing that has not been corrupted, and that is our judicial system. It will be undermined for sure with the change made in the committee for selecting judges.”
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“They are using a laundromat. This is turning the selection of judges into another section in the division of the coalition spoils,” he emphasized again, “I think that today there is a system that has internal balances, no one can do everything he wants. Of course, the minister and the political representatives have a lot of influence, but there is also an effect on the people who live the justice system from the field”
“There is no reason for change here,” he declared. “Besides a desire to control the judges without restraint. Let them have a clear political color, know to whom they owe, and that’s how our trial will look. There will be a majority that will come closed from the house and transfer whoever they want.”
The former Minister of Justice also noted that “I remind you that at the time I changed the way judges were selected through private legislation, and as a result the composition of the court today is diverse. To come today and make a total politicization of the selection of judges, how will this increase public confidence in the judicial system?”
As for the Prime Minister’s words Benjamin Netanyahu In this regard, he attacked: “This is a false text, because the Honorable Prime Minister is talking about restoring the right balance. But I ask you – when was there a political majority in the committee for selecting judges? This has never happened in the history of the State of Israel. After all, what are they claiming? They are claiming that from that the constitutional revolution upset the balance, let’s return to what was before. But never before in the State of Israel has there been a coalition political majority in the committee for selecting judges.” According to him, “these are simply lies intended to justify the “reform”, when the word reform is a cover. This is a plan to trample the justice system and for the government to take over the judicial authority, in addition to the legislative authority which it controls.”
In response to the question of whether he thinks Netanyahu is lying, he clarified: “Clearly. He has a senior associate who called him a ‘liar.’ We got used to lies.”
Mashal went on to point out that Netanyahu also quoted Sa’ar in his words regarding the enhancement clause, and the former Minister of Justice claimed that “one of the lies that is used is a reference to anyone who proposed reform of the judicial system to show that ‘here, he also proposed’. Let’s discuss what I proposed – I did not change the I stood.”
“I was talking about a privileged majority in the Knesset,” clarified Sa’ar. “They come and say something completely different, the devil is in the small details. They say ‘in order to invalidate a section of the law you will need a majority of 13 Supreme Court judges’, but in order to overcome the ruling a majority of 61 in the Knesset will be sufficient. In practice this means the cancellation of the constitutional judicial review of legislation The Knesset. I personally was ready for the proposal of the former Minister of Justice who proposed 65 members of the Knesset, and of course there should be a correlation to the majority required in the court for disqualification. Not the majority they propose, but a majority attributed here and a majority attributed there, not an exercise whose practical meaning is that there will be no judicial review “.
When the former Minister of Justice was asked if he regretted not asking to enter the government headed by Netanyahu, he replied: “I’m not sorry. The reason for this is that once such a coalition was formed, the first reason would be to blow up the matter and go to the elections after Netanyahu would bring such proposals. When you want to make a partnership With someone, you need to have trust in their desire to honor agreements. Unfortunately, I was unable to generate that trust in view of the familiarity I have.”
“You don’t believe in Netanyahu’s signature,” Davidov asked to summarize the former minister’s statements, and Sa’ar confirmed her words: “Not so much.”
Regarding his non-participation in the demonstration that took place last night against the Netanyahu government and its measures, he explained: “I saw the list, they are very far from me in worldview. If I were to go, I would come to a place where signs are raised that are against everything I believe in.” He added and said that “I choose to conduct the campaign against this dangerous plan in the best way to convince a wide public. It can include demonstrations – but it depends on who the organizer is, the speakers, the slogans. I don’t see myself as a participant in a demonstration in which Ayman Odeh is a participant.”
“Has it just come to the million demonstration?”, the presenters wondered, and Saar stated: “I think so, I don’t think this was the last demonstration. I don’t rule out that we will also participate, but we have to be complete with the direction and content. Paint it in the colors of the extreme left In my opinion, I cannot contribute to this campaign.”
When asked if criticism could affect Netanyahu’s opinions, he claimed: “Always in a democratic regime, public opinion matters. Netanyahu is not alone in this event. Therefore, as much as I don’t want to sail with optimism, I say yes – public opinion matters.” He continued that “in the end, we will do something intolerable here. We are touching the fundamental rules of the regime, and we are losing our ability as a society to reach agreed upon rules of the game. That is why I see this as a very destructive thing that also disintegrates our social fabric – we must fight.”
Finally, Sa’ar criticized the change in Netanyahu’s attitudes, which he says stems from the ongoing investigations against him: “There is no doubt that only the criminal proceedings against him changed Netanyahu’s attitudes. He did quote me in something I said 9 years ago, something I stand by today, but who changed In one hundred and eighty, it is Netanyahu who raises his positions.” According to him, “the dangerous thing is to take the entire country in a direction where we are corrupting a system, which with all the problems that need to be fixed, is an honest system. We are damaging both our political asset and our political asset.”
Assisted in the preparation of the article: Shani Romano 103fm