Israel’s main opposition parties have suspended talks aimed at reaching a compromise on the government’s controversial judicial overhaul.
The decision followed a dramatic day in the Knesset which was supposed to choose two parliamentary representatives for the nine-member Judges Selection committee – traditionally one from the coalition and one from the opposition. Members of prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s coalition had demanded that both positions be filled by government representatives.
Just before the vote, Mr Netanyahu, under intense pressure from the far-right parties and radical members of his own Likud – led by justice minister Yariv Levin – announced a month-long delay in the vote and ordered all coalition lawmakers to withdraw from the ballot.
However, a renegade and feisty Likud Knesset member, Tali Gotliv, insisted on standing, meaning a secret vote took place against Mr Netanyahu’s wishes. The result was even more embarrassing for him – the opposition candidate, Karine Elharrar from the centrist Yesh Atid, won 58 votes for her appointment with 56 Knesset members voting against. Ms Gotliv failed to get elected, winning the support of only 15 lawmakers.
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Accusing Mr Netanyahu of “surrendering to extremists”, opposition leaders Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid declared a boycott of the talks hosted by president Yitzhak Herzog aimed at reaching a compromise on the judicial overhaul until the Judges Selection committee is convened.
“Without a committee, there are no talks,” Mr Lapid said. “Once Netanyahu was a fraud and strong. Today he’s a fraud and weak.”
Mr Gantz said there was no point in continuing the compromise talks until another committee member was selected and the panel was convened.
Mr Netanyahu reacted angrily, accusing the opposition leaders of seeking to derail talks on the judicial overhaul “from the start”.
In a video posted online, he said the opposition “searched for every way” to torpedo the dialogue. “Gantz and Lapid don’t want real negotiations,” he charged. “I promise you that, unlike them, we’ll act responsibly for our country.”
Changing the make-up of the Judges Selection panel was a key element of the package of reforms designed to shift power away from the judiciary – considered by the right as a bastion of left-wing elitism.
Right-wing parliamentarians urged Mr Netanyahu to take the initiative and unilaterally push ahead with the controversial legislation which the opposition claims will undermine Israeli democracy by altering the balance of power between the branches of government.
Coalition members expressed concern over the fact that at least five lawmakers had voted for the opposition candidate in the secret ballot.
Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have protested weekly against the judicial overhaul, backed by leading economists, high-tech entrepreneurs and army reservists.
The shekel fell against foreign currencies and shares dropped as the markets reacted with concern over the possibility that the country was entering another period of protracted uncertainty.
