Following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's dramatic announcement that the coalition will begin practical steps this week toward enacting the legal reform, the factions are gathering in their rooms today. The heads of the factions, Avigdor Lieberman (Yisrael Beiteinu), Benny Gantz (State Camp), Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionism) and Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid), make statements at the start of the meetings. Conspicuous by its absence is the Likud faction, which will not hold a faction meeting today.
Gave the heads of the factions a topic of conversation, Netanyahu, photo: Amit Shabi
Lapid: "Netanyahu's announcement is an attempt to threaten us"
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid responded to Netanyahu's remarks at the cabinet meeting: "When we entered the talks at the president's residence, there was one condition agreed upon by all sides, including the president: stop the legislation until there is agreement. The logic was simple and clear to everyone: if the government legislates, what are we talking about? And what are we talking about? Yesterday, Netanyahu announced that he was returning to legislation. The implications are obvious. The talks will end, chaos will return. The economy will crash again, prices will rise, national security will be damaged at a critical time.
Lapid added: "Along with the announcement, as usual, came the lies. Netanyahu claimed yesterday that there had been agreement at the president's residence on the grounds of reasonableness and on the legal advisers. This is not true. It wasn't, it wasn't created, it's a lie. His announcement yesterday is an attempt to threaten us. He says: Go back to the president's house without a judicial selection committee being elected, otherwise we will legislate unilaterally. Threats won't work on us. He needs to stop the legislation, finish selecting the committee, and then we can return to the president's residence to save the economy and Israeli society."
Set conditions for talks at the president's residence, Lapid, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
"Benny Gantz and I issued a clear statement yesterday: We will not sit at the president's residence just so that Netanyahu can be interviewed on CNN and claim that there is dialogue while Yariv Levin passes laws that will destroy our democracy," Lapid clarified. Without harming Israeli democracy."
Gantz: "There will be no unilateral legislation"
At the beginning of his remarks, Benny Gantz, chairman of the state camp, referred to the incident in Jenin: "Any responsible security action will continue to receive backing. Unfortunately, even before the fighters left the area, there were those who came out again with the mistaken claim that our operations in Jenin, Nablus and everywhere in the West Bank were not extensive enough.
We have control on the ground, we have excellent intelligence, and we prevent attacks on a daily basis. Relies on the security forces to expand their activities as necessary – responsibly and determinedly. Where terrorism raises its head, our forces will act.
At this time, we are all backing the fighters on the ground and hope that the operation will end without further casualties."
Gantz responded to Netanyahu's statement, saying: "The prime minister announced yesterday that he intends to return to unilateral legislation 'responsibly.' This is a logical fallacy. Unilateral progress in enacting a regime coup is not a responsible step – it is destructive to Israeli society, economy, security and democracy. It's not responsibility – it's lawlessness."
"It's not a responsibility", Benny Gantz, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Gantz also addressed Karine Elharrar's election to the Judicial Selection Committee: "Last week, Netanyahu had two choices, the first was to elect an opposition representative and a coalition representative and establish the committee for selecting judges as agreed, continue dialogue and strive for agreements that will prevent disaster here. The second is to surrender to the extremists, choose his narrow political interest over the State of Israel, and bring about an explosion in the talks."
Gantz added: "Netanyahu, unfortunately, chose the second option. If Netanyahu decides to set us back three months, everyone will lose from such a move – right and left, Arabs and Jews, secular and ultra-Orthodox. If Netanyahu decides on a "creeping coup," he will shatter the wall of reality.
The public understands, the world understands, the markets understand – and Netanyahu must understand too: there will be no regime coup. There will be no unilateral legislation. It is doubtful whether there is a majority in the Knesset, and certainly there is no majority of the people."
Lieberman: "Aharon Barak Joins Netanyahu's PR Team"
At the beginning of a meeting of the Yisrael Beiteinu faction, party chairman Avigdor Lieberman addressed the unusual incident in Jenin. "The government must carry out a large-scale operation in northern Samaria," he said. Lieberman added on the security issue: "We must return to targeted killings in Gaza."
Lieberman also addressed the issue of legal reform: "Aharon Barak joined Netanyahu's public relations team. The reasonableness is intended to pave Deri's way to the government."
Want an operation in northern Samaria, Lieberman, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
The Likud rests after the shouting match
As mentioned, the Likud faction will not convene today. The Likud had a stormy day yesterday in the Knesset, when Information Minister Galit Distal and Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel engaged in an unusual shouting match during a cabinet meeting. The battle began after Gamliel announced that she would not allocate funds to the electronic handcuffing law: as a result, Distel shouted at her: "You are a stone in the shoes of the coalition. Pathetic." Following the unusual confrontation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made it clear to the minister that he was not prepared to accept such conduct in cabinet meetings.
Disgusting shouting match between Sital-Atabrian and Gila Gamliel (archive), photo: Oren Ben Hakon
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