The reasonableness is in preparing for a vote, and in the meantime, there are increasing voices in the coalition to continue the legislation of the other sections of the legal reform in the next Knesset session as well.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich held a round of interviews, in which he said, "We will try in each of the sections of the amendments that we amend in the legal system to do so judiciously, responsibly and attentively. We received a mandate and will implement it in dialogue with a willingness to compromise. We will find the right balance to fix the amendments. We are convinced that the reform will reform the justice system."
Minister of Finance Smotrich, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu said in an interview with Channel 12 morning news that they did not give up on the Judicial Selection Committee or the other items of the reform. "We do things drop by drop. The droplet method instead of the salami method. They want to advance the legislation so that there will be rain and not a storm. Rain allows things to grow correctly, allows us to speak, explains, allows the public to understand, allows demonstrations to fade. The droplet method allows us to listen and correct things on the fly that need to be corrected," he said.
Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar also says that the reform will continue to progress. "We are talking about a more orderly, responsible and long method, and not quickly. We will legislate in a way that we can explain to the public and convince the public. I don't know if it will be the Judicial Selection Committee, there are many issues that need to be promoted, such as the Attorney Generals Law or the Override Clause that we will have to discuss and other important issues to deal with. The coalition will continue to promote legal reform in an orderly manner, as it is doing now on a different path from what we have known in the past."
Controversy in the Constitutional Committee
Meanwhile, a storm erupted in a discussion in the Constitution Committee in which the views of Knesset members and experts were heard ahead of votes on eliminating the reasonableness grounds this week. The opposition was outraged by the conduct of committee chairman Simcha Rotman, who demanded a five-minute time limit for speakers when expressing their views. MK Gilad Kariv of the Labor Party made it clear to Rotman that this was an "unserious discussion" and a "show." Rothman responded that the opposition was "bullying." In another case before the committee, Rotman made it difficult for MK Merav Cohen of the Yesh Atid party to finish the question she wanted to raise, and after deliberations with her, ordered her removed from the committee hall.
"It is imperative to allow attorneys general who use the grounds of reasonableness to speak": Knesset Attorney General against Rotman's decision // Credit: Israel Hayom News
As of now, the bill does not show softening but rather worsening. However, it is still possible to soften the proposal until a vote on second and third readings.
In this context, Deputy Attorney General Gil Limon warned yesterday that "changing the wording after the first reading is not a softer version of the proposal, but also exacerbates the difficulties that existed even before the first reading. In fact, the significance of the amendment is the release of the government and its ministers from the obligation to act reasonably in the country's residents in their decisions."
"Concrete solutions"
According to Limon, "This will effectively eliminate the obligation to act reasonably, and impair the court's ability to protect the individual from governmental arbitrariness.
Deputy Attorney General Limon, Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
"The amendments actually reinforce the difficulties we have faced, by focusing immunity from judicial review for breaching the duty of reasonableness to the government and ministers, who hold the most governmental power; And it is explicitly clarified that the bill is intended to apply also to appointments (and by implication - to dismissal) as well as to refraining from carrying out governmental action.
"That is, on individual governmental decisions, as opposed to general policy decisions. The way the committee chose, completely preventing judicial review of the reasonableness of the decision, breaks the accepted rules of the game in democracy as part of the checks and balances between the three branches."
MK Simcha Rotman at the Constitution Committee, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Rothman later announced that from today he would begin voting on reservations submitted to the bill. At the end of the week, the committee is expected to hold a final vote on the law, with the aim of bringing it to the Knesset for final approval on Monday in a week, and to finish the legislative process by Tisha B'Av.
"I hope that my friends in the opposition will use the time to submit reservations to propose concrete solutions that will bring us closer to agreement," Rothman said.
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