The reform in the judicial system (the committee for the appointment of judges) was approved in the first reading (Knesset Channel)
Everyone agreed on only one thing yesterday.
February 20, 2023 is a date that will go down in the history books - the night the regime revolution was launched.
"It's a great night and a great day," tweeted Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, accompanied by three Israeli flags, in a nod to the tens of thousands of blue and white flags that were flown a few hours earlier outside the Knesset and that are already flooding the streets during Shavuot.
The leaders of the struggle against the reform, which is also growing to historic proportions, announced at the end of the vote about the darkest point in the country's history.
"History will judge you for this night," opposition leader Yair Lapid accused the coalition members, and Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz stated that this was a "black day for Israeli democracy."
Less than two months after it was established, Netanyahu's sixth government, also known as the "fully right-wing government", will enter the annals of the State of Israel.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin's first reform laws - which will give the government complete control over the selection of judges and abolish the High Court of Justice's judicial review of Knesset legislation - were admittedly only approved in the first reading; and the coalition schedule currently schedules their final approval for the end of next month and only then will they truly enter history.
Seemingly, on the way to a second and third reading, there is still time for significant compromises and changes that can lead to political and national reconciliation. But the opposing historical moment in which the two sides dwell only deepens the gaping chasm between those who fear the end of democracy and those who are convinced that they are resurrecting it and returning power to the people and their elected officials - and holds the power to carry out as he wishes without brakes or restraints. When each side has a nested sense of history, the scope for possible historical compromise is quite narrow.
Prime Minister Netanyahu repeated yesterday the buzzword coined by President Yitzhak Herzog: "negotiations".
Levin, in the speech of his life, personally appealed to each member of the opposition to "sit down and talk".
But at the same time, he made it clear that he is determined to continue with the reform "without delays and obfuscations" and repeated his demand to conduct a dialogue "without preconditions".
That is, without stopping the legislation, as the protest leaders and opposition leaders demand - and as the president begged last week when he presented the "negotiation" outline.
The government flatly refused.
And even now, they still refuse.
Conversations as it were.
Netanyahu and Levin at the Plenum, tonight (Photo: Flash 90, Yonatan Zindel)
Chairman of the Constitution Committee Rotman will continue the discussions on the following parts of the reform today, and the coalition will approve tomorrow in a preliminary reading the superseding clause, which will allow the Knesset to re-enact any law invalidated by the High Court.
Even if Levin and Rothman considered compromising on the enhancement clause as part of the "negotiations" - the ultra-Orthodox raised a red flag and demanded to start promoting the law immediately.
So the conciliatory messages about extending a hand are mostly intended for PR needs and do not signal a desire for honest and genuine discourse. Likud has been complaining for weeks about the reform's information failures, and are worried about the numbers in polls that show that the vast majority of the public is not with them. Now, they want to change the record and be welcoming. The goal: to calm and dissolve the protest, the economic markets and international pressures - and to divide and rule between the opponents. Netanyahu said yesterday that there are quite a few senior representatives in the opposition who want to talk but are "afraid of the thugs" in their camp. The coalition will now try to attract those senior officials, if they do exist. to manage independent delegates, and to insert wedges in the opposition, which also finds it difficult to present a united and divided front in its internal conflicts.
President Herzog, who has been trying for weeks to fulfill his historic role as a mediator between the two sides, will also be recorded in the annals.
So far without historical success, not even the beginning.
After the government ignored his request to stop the legislation in order to enter into an outline of negotiations, the president simply waived the prior demand to stop the legislation and stated that an agreement could be reached within a few days.
In view of the political disconnection between the coalition and the opposition and the brains, in the president's house they are trying to soften the reform from within;
Rothman is holding talks with a team of conservative lawyers led by Prof. Yedidia Stern, Likud members such as David Bitan and Miki Zohar are publicly calling for compromises, senior rabbis have been sent to pressure the chairman of Religious Zionism, Bezalel Smotrich, to prevent a fratricidal war. Justice Minister Levin, from the beginning, also promised that after If the laws pass on first reading, he will be open to changes and to remove some of the goats.
More in Walla!
The legal revolution has begun: the Knesset approved in first reading the limitation of the High Court and the change of the Committee for the Selection of Judges
To the full article
The civil protest against the destruction of democracy will expand and intensify.
A demonstration outside the Knesset, yesterday (photo: official website, Amir Turkel)
But the maximum that the coalition will agree to go down to will probably not meet the minimum that the opponents of the coup will be willing to accept.
Therefore, the whole game of accusations about stopping the legislation, yes or no, and the discourse of compromises, yes or no, are a kind of smokescreen for the real story: to paraphrase US President Bill Clinton - it's the judges, idiots. Even if the government stops and sits down for meaningful negotiations And Levin and Rothman will agree to certain compromises and softening, they will not give up the historical flag they feel they carry. Nor the combination of personal and sectoral political interests that unites them against a single goal. The coalition
of Netanyahu, Deri, Levin and Rothman is determined to weaken the Supreme Court, each for his reasons, and will not compromise on taking over the committee for the selection of judges. "What used to be will not be anymore," Levin declared emphatically last night before the change in the composition of the committee was approved by the plenary.
In the meantime, in the coming days and weeks, what was will probably be what will be.
Only worse.
The coalition will continue to gallop forward with the laws of the revolution, the civil protest against the destruction of democracy will expand and intensify, the economic panic and international criticism will intensify and intensify.
Only one person can change the historical direction: Netanyahu, who is known to be fond of dealing with the issue.
As a criminal defendant, he is allegedly prevented from engaging in legal reform, but as prime minister, he signed the most difficult and dangerous political/constitutional/social crisis in Israel's history, which will be recorded in his name in the history books.
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