Justice Minister Yariv Levin's press conference, where he presented the planned reforms to the justice system on Wednesday, surprised many. Less content, more timing. From the end of the elections until the dramatic statement that landed on the judicial system yesterday evening like a thunderbolt on a clear day - live on all news broadcasts - everyone involved in the matter made sure to keep a low profile. to obscure intentions.
At first it was not clear that Levin would be the Minister of Justice.
After eight, the new minister made sure not to say anything about his intentions.
Benjamin Netanyahu also remained silent.
In all his speeches he did not mention the subject, not even a word.
The assessment received from those around him is that all changes in the judicial system will be postponed at all until the next session.
For a moment it seemed that Netanyahu, probably under the pressure of the ongoing trial against him, intended to text everything.
This was not the case with a handful of stakeholders who were directly affected.
In recent weeks, in what actually started already in the coalition talks but intensified after the swearing in of the government, the same group, led by Levin, formulated the moves that will be brought very soon for the approval of the Knesset.
After they are completed - the legal system will be turned upside down, and in fact the political system as well.
The event that began unfolding on Wednesday at eight in the evening will be the most important and turbulent event of the two systems in the coming months, and will focus on it the most attention of the entire governmental activity.
In fact, this is a defining event, not only by the standards of the current government - but of Israeli governments in general, and in particular those of the right-wing camp.
An event on a historic scale, no less.
Maintained industrial peace.
Netanyahu, photo: Yonatan Zindel Flash 90
In the past decades, the Knesset has not dealt with a series of laws that change world orders like the government bills that will soon reach its doorstep, and there has not been a right-wing government that decided to promote such far-reaching measures without fearing its own shadow.
The attacks on the reform have already begun, and the more the legislative process progresses - the more they will intensify, and will come not only from the members of the opposition, but also from senior members of the judiciary and academics, who will flood the pages of newspapers and studios with flowing and moving articles and interviews.
Although it is not impossible that some of the sections of the laws that Levin will put on the Knesset table will be changed and softened during the legislative process, but it seems that the current coalition arrives at the event united and complete, with one hundred percent support, i.e. - fingers of 64 MKs.
Already during the election campaign, the religious Zionist party presented its proposal to reform the judicial system.
At the time of the coalition agreements, MK Simcha Rothman was assigned to deal with the issue in front of the Likud representatives. Levin shared with him that although his party members do not know this yet, he, Levin, is about to be appointed Minister of Justice.
After presenting the requested changes in general terms and realizing that they see things eye to eye, the two agreed with a handshake that any proposal brought by the minister to the constitutional committee chaired by Rotman, would go through a fast and efficient legislative process.
The coalition agreement states that the speaker of the Knesset on behalf of the Likud will bring to the plenum's approval as a top priority any law that will be approved by the Constitution Committee. To this end, the words are coordinated with the speaker of the Knesset, Amir Ohana.
Everyone in their role
Not only the desire to maintain order and return the power that the High Court took for itself was at the basis of the decision to speed up the approval of the measures, but also the necessity of reality: the appointment of Aryeh Deri as minister; the approval of the conscription law while making sure that the High Court does not interfere with it again;
The appointment of ombudsmen as soon as possible to the government offices by the new ministers; the reduction of the authority of the legal adviser to the government, which became more urgent following her opinion on the Deri issue; the appointment of Knesset representatives to the committee for the appointment of judges, which should be completed by March 15 and which requires changing the composition of the committee even earlier, and more.
According to Rothman, a small group of judges is trying to instill its values in the general population.
To this end, they created a kind of constitution, which the Knesset never approved, and began ruling based on it.
"It's 'constitution' in quotation marks," he said
Even though Levine is the representative of the government and Rothman is the representative of the legislative authority, they established a joint tribunal, a sort of "committee of the two", to advance the legislative procedures on legal issues as quickly as possible.
Not every bill will pass as written and heard in Rothman's committee.
There will be laws that will change, here or there, but the principles will remain - the Knesset and the government take their powers back from the court and the legal advisors.
According to Rothman, a small group of judges is trying to instill its values in the general population.
They created a kind of constitution, which the Knesset never approved, and began ruling based on it.
"This is a 'constitution' in quotation marks," he says, "which was not determined by the people, but was shaped by the decision of a small and limited group. The values in it may be right, maybe wrong, and all are ultimately human and prone to error
or error."
According to him, "Such a constitution will never bind the people if it was not adopted in an orderly and agreed upon manner, and the Knesset's Constitution Committee was entrusted with the design of these arrangements, which one day may become a constitution. These days a new fashion has developed. Sages said, 'How rich - the happy In part', and probably due to the difficult economic situation, there are fewer and fewer rich people in Israel.
People are not happy in their lot and are not happy in their positions.
The consultant wants to be the decider.
The judge wants to be a legislator."
In doing so, Rothman responded to those who raised the rule of prosecutors and officials by a miracle, and tried - with great success, it must be said - to shift the weight of gravity from the politicians to the unelected level. ".
"There is no contradiction between governance and democracy," stated Zilber.
"Governance is important, but also democracy - in the broad and multi-stakeholder sense, expressing the many shades of the public interest - is part of healthy governance. Governance is first and foremost leadership. And what is leadership? To outline a vision, outline a direction, set goals. Act for the benefit of the citizens, and not only for the benefit Ensuring the government. To act for the benefit of all the citizens of the country, even those who did not choose to be in power. State-minded and broad-shouldered. That accepts responsibility, that has the ability to carry it out."
Attorney on call
Netanyahu, who seemed to be dragged into the event, turned out to be the one leading it behind the scenes.
Lowering expectations was nothing more than a diversion.
As the saying goes in the political system: one should never lower expectations to zero, then surprise everyone with a mediocre performance.
The conciliatory messages he sent towards Supreme Court President Hayut and the ombudsman in Rabbi Miara were nothing more than deliberate deception. Not for peace, but for war.
Netanyahu put the gun on the table already in the first act, with the appointments of Levin as Minister of Justice, Rothman as Chairman of the Constitution Committee and Ohana as the new Knesset Chairman.
The legal revolution actually revolves on the axis of all three.
Each of them has sharp and clear positions in relation to the subject in question.
all aim.
Waves in Harav Miara, photo: Herzi Shapira
Their motivation to promote the reform - in all its stages, those presented this week by Levin and those that will follow - is skyrocketing.
If Netanyahu had any intention of obstructing, torpedoing or delaying, he would have appointed other people to these positions.
The appointment of all three is like a clear statement of intent.
The Deri High Court illustrated the urgent need to correct the system, and the next step in the legal legislation - splitting the role of the Ombudsman.
The General Prosecutor's Office made a plea agreement with Deri whose purpose was to remove him from the political system, while the government attorneys are now being asked to justify his appointment as a minister in the High Court.
But what - both at the head of the prosecution and at the head of the government's legal representation is the same lady.
What is the wonder, then, that Rabbi Miara refused to represent the government and sent it to bring in an outside attorney?
After all, she is at the head of the system that asked to send Deri out of politics - how will she represent those who request his return?
This short can only be solved if two heads of two different people are placed under the two hats.
However, the splitting of the ombudsman's role is substantial legislation with many sections. It will not be possible to complete it in the immediate term, so it is estimated that it will take several months until it is completed.
The reasonableness test is the problematic one in the constitutional revolution.
And into this pit she also fell in Harv-Miara.
The law that was amended to allow the appointment of Deri as a minister is fine, she wrote in the long opinion she submitted to the court, but the appointment itself is invalid.
In other words - Deri is not fit to serve as minister in the reasonableness test, since he was convicted of crimes.
The fact that more than 390,000 people think otherwise and voted for Shas led by Deri, so that he would be a minister in the government and influence its policy, does not change the opinion of the group of lawyers of Beharve-Miara and Hayot. Therefore, the cancellation of the reason for reasonableness in everything related to the decisions of elected officials is also found On the surgeon's table of the current government, in preparation for the start of a legislative procedure on the subject.
In the meantime, it will be possible to quickly pass another, easier law, to reduce the role of the ombudsman and to delimit it, and show Behreb-Miara by the way the door out.
The profit is all his
Netanyahu began promoting the legal issue at the same time as the legal cases related to it.
Until then, the Prime Minister was the darling of the system.
He was even named "the greatest defender of the justice system" by the creator of the revolution, Aharon Barak.
As the proceedings against him progressed, his distrust of the systems grew.
At first he trusted the police - especially the Commissioner, who he himself appointed together with the Minister of Internal Security at the time. With the publication of the police's recommendations on the filing of the indictments, Netanyahu announced that he trusted the ombudsman before whom he was about to undergo a hearing.
After the hearing, when it became clear that the indictments remained intact, Netanyahu made it clear that he trusted the judges.
This does not mean that there are not those around him who feel that there is something in the statement of the late Ruth Gavizon, according to which "Netanyahu will not be able to receive a fair trial."
If in any case any move of legal reform is presented as a personal step by Netanyahu to escape his trial - even though its main points were discussed extensively on the right before the Alif cases - then those around him will not object to giving the impression that there is a willingness to touch the exposed nerves of the system, and if necessary - to submit the trial itself to public trial.
The Rothman Constitution Committee will cooperate with any investigation, and will not hesitate to summon all those involved, the investigators who allegedly exceeded their authority, police officers who allegedly acted contrary to the instructions of the ombudsman, those who listened, deposed witnesses, used borderline methods, and more.
Despite the attempt to distance Netanyahu from the event, the ongoing trial against him may in any case be affected by the legislative proceedings in the Knesset.
The legal system - which will feel under attack in the face of the reforms - may try to strive for a better plea deal than the one Netanyahu rejected about a year ago.
According to Netanyahu's conduct, for him the train has already left the station.
The system had all the opportunities in the world to come down from the tree, but it chose to entrench itself at the top.
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