The tension and rivalry within the coalition, in the face of the combination of forces in the opposition, ahead of the elections for the Judicial Selection Committee, is only a prelude to the battle over legal reform in the coalition, which will resume next week.
Senior opposition sources believe that the election of representatives to the Judicial Selection Committee next week will put an end to the possibility of legislating a law to change the composition of the committee retroactively down the road, so that it will affect the current committee. This is also why the justice minister demanded, behind the scenes, to use the threat to elect two coalition members to the committee if they did not reach an agreement in the president's residence on advancing some of the laws.
In fact, once the coalition loses the ability to change the composition of the committee in the coming years, the battle over the most significant law included in the reform – the composition of the Judicial Selection Committee – will end.
Deri is not satisfied - and does not hide it
The tension between the Levin-Rotman wing and the Netanyahu-Deri axis is expected to be on a collision course soon. On Deri's part, unsubstantiated messages are already being sent that the Shas chairman is angry at Minister Levin's promotion of the reform, and that he is also dissatisfied with the pressure he is currently exerting.
Justice Minister Levin: "The composition of the current judicial selection committee cannot be accepted" // Knesset Channel
Welfare Minister Yaakov Margi was interviewed earlier today by journalist Yishai Cohen and said that "there is no doubt that the debate over the legal reform, and the way it was submitted, created an economic crisis. The reform was rejected, it doesn't take a great genius to understand that the judicial reform will not be launched in the original version as it was submitted – even if the talks at the president's residence explode."
Margi added, "From the outset, the manner in which the judicial reform was submitted to the Knesset was wrong, it was not coordinated with us. We were surprised by Yariv Levin's press conference. We've all recognized the need to change, but in this way?"
The director general of the Prime Minister's Office made a similar statement, mistakenly revealing the mood in the ministry yesterday when he said that the government must deal with problems other than legal reform. Levin, who hears this, is not threatening to resign and intends to remain in office in an attempt to pass parts of the reform despite everything – with or without agreements in the president's residence.
Constitution Committee Chairman Simcha Rotman spoke again this week demanding that the laws continue, telling Israel Hayom that "if there are no agreements, we will move forward unilaterally. We want agreements, and we will invest in that, but we will not give the opposition veto power."
Yossi Shelly, Director General of the Prime Minister's Office. "We need to stop talking about it" (archive), photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Netanyahu's Hurdle - Likud Central Conference
Coalition sources said on Wednesday that "Minister Levin is pressing very hard, so it seems that something will be advanced at this conference by agreement or unilaterally." They added that "this coalition is not giving up, even though it is clear that Netanyahu would not want to light the protest." While Levin would prefer to advance certain laws, the coalition is preparing for compromises on this issue as well – given progress in implementing the agreed parts of the reform and amending the other laws.
The Likud Central Committee meeting on Sunday next week will be another hurdle for Netanyahu. Netanyahu did refuse a request to put on the agenda a vote on the demand of 850 centrist members to advance the reform even in the absence of agreement, but the issue may be raised by centrist members even without official approval. The absence of this demand from the agenda, in the decision of Netanyahu and Likud Central Committee Chairman Haim Katz, also indicates Netanyahu's mood on the reform issue.
Wrong? We'll fix it! If you find a mistake in the article, please share with us
