Israel’s government to advance part of judicial reform

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that parts of his coalition’s judicial reform initiative will move ahead this week.

“We will meet this week and begin practical steps in the legal reform,” Netanyahu told Cabinet members gathered at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem for their regular weekly meeting.

The premier accused opposition leaders Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) and Benny Gantz (National Unity) of not taking talks on a compromise seriously.

Netanyahu paused the reform program in late March to allow for time to reach an agreement. That announcement was followed by a series of meetings hosted by President Isaac Herzog involving various Knesset factions with the aim of forging a compromise.

“What has been proven is that Gantz and Lapid were playing a game. It was a misrepresentation of so-called negotiations. We gave three months; their representatives did not agree to the most minimal understanding. They tried to kill every amendment. We will take the steps in a measured manner according to the mandate we received [from the voters],” Netanyahu said.

Lapid responded that “if Netanyahu advances with his coup plan unilaterally, as he stated, he will find out that he is prime minister of less than half of the people of Israel, with less than half of the economy, less than half of the security [establishment] and less than half of the Knesset.”

The leaders of the anti-government protest movement also responded to Netanyahu’s remarks, saying that the prime minister’s “threats to the judicial system will be met with an appropriate Zionist response—demonstrations and disruptions that will result in the failure of any attempt to harm the legal system and Israeli democracy.”