At the beginning of the first week after the political drama and the failed coalition maneuver in the Knesset elections to the Judicial Selection Committee, the picture is beginning to become clearer, but not definitively.
Elharar was elected to the Judicial Selection Committee // Photo: Knesset Channel
In the Likud, and among the coalition leaders, there is great pressure to advance unilateral legislation after the opposition announced the suspension of talks at the president's residence.
According to Levin, Smotrich, Ben-Gvir and many Likud ministers, it is necessary to take advantage of the fact that the talks were ostensibly initiated by the opposition, despite the fact that Elharar was eventually elected to the committee for selecting judges.
Netanyahu votes in the elections for the Judicial Selection Committee, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
The ministers argue that it should be explained to the public that the coalition tried to reach agreements, but all its proposals were rejected and a gradual legislative process should be initiated. The assumption of supporters is that the streets will not tremble if they first begin to enact the softer issues of the reform.
Solberg Outline
This is already reflected in the Likud's messaging pages and official announcements, in which the coalition leaders announced that they had convened to decide on the continuation of the legislative schedule.
In an interview with Israel Hayom over the weekend, Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs presented the coalition's priorities if it begins unilateral legislation: first reducing the reasonableness grounds in the Solberg outline and then advancing the Attorney Generals Law.
Apparently, if the legislation is advanced in the current conference, it will be in the Solberg framework, and the coalition says it will be difficult for the protest to call it "the end of democracy," since it is the realization of the idea of a sitting Supreme Court justice.
In addition, Minister Dudi Amsalem said in an interview with Channel 14 that the coalition would advance legislation to change the composition of the committee for selecting judges – but in a more moderate version than the original proposal, a wording that does not give the coalition an advantage.
According to him, the proposed composition will not have representatives for sitting judges and the Bar Association, and the number of representatives of the coalition and opposition will be equal.
Gantz. Interested in returning to talks, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Gantz wants talks
On the other hand, Netanyahu has not stated unequivocally that the coalition will now launch unilateral legislation. Benny Gantz, chairman of the state camp, leaves an opening for a return to talks, saying last night that if another representative is elected to the committee for the selection of judges and the committee is established, it is necessary to return to talks at the president's residence.
Gantz is interested in talks because it benefits him and gives him public credit from which his rise in the polls stems. Therefore, Gantz also prefers dialogue to taking to the streets and "shaking the country," since there Lapid has an advantage over him. In addition, there is the possibility that Gantz believes that the parties were close to an interim agreement that could have been marketed as an achievement to the public.
Netanyahu did not shut down a return to talks, but according to the Likud's response to Gantz's remarks, they are not jumping straight at the bargain. By the end of the week, we will know more about the direction of Netanyahu and the coalition.
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