(Jerusalem) Israeli President Isaac Herzog announced on Tuesday the holding in the evening of a first “ dialogue meeting ” between majority and opposition parties on the justice reform project which divides the country.
The president “has invited the work teams representing the ruling coalition, [the opposition party] Yesh Atid, and the National Unity Party [another opposition party] for a first dialogue meeting at his residence this evening at 7:30 p.m. “(12:30 p.m. Eastern Time), according to an official press release.
Yaïr Lapid and Benny Gantz, respective leaders of these two centrist parties, announced on Monday evening that they were ready to dialogue with the majority, under the aegis of Mr. Herzog, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he had “ decided on a pause” in the examination of the justice reform project, in order to give “ a chance for a real dialogue ” with a view to having a more consensual text adopted during the summer parliamentary session due to open on April 30.
Mr. Herzog has been trying for several weeks to mediate between supporters of the reform and his opponents, while the protest has only grown in the country where demonstrations have followed one another since the announcement of the project in early January.
The Likud (right), party of Mr. Netanyahu, published Tuesday afternoon the list of people to participate in the meeting.
Netanyahu’s announcement Monday evening of a pause in the ongoing legislative process, after a day of escalating protests, the start of a general strike and the emergence of tensions within the majority, was welcomed with skepticism by the protesters as well as by several political commentators.
For Nahum Barnea, columnist for the daily Yediot Aharonot, the Prime Minister “has been able to turn a bitter defeat into a draw with pretty words”. “Whatever he says or will say, few people believe him, I believe that confidence in him is not great including” on the right, he wrote.
Supported by one of the most right-wing governments in Israel, the justice reform project gave birth to one of the largest popular mobilization movements in the country.
If they accepted the mediation of Mr. Herzog, MM. Lapid and Gantz also warned the government against deception.
Alluding to the bill on the composition of the commission responsible for selecting judges, one of the most contested aspects of the reform, their two parties warned in a joint statement that they would “immediately” leave the negotiating table if this text “is put on the program of Parliament”.
For the government, the reform aims to rebalance powers by reducing the prerogatives of the Supreme Court, which the executive considers politicized, in favor of Parliament.
Its detractors believe, on the contrary, that the reform risks leading to an illiberal or authoritarian drift.
The announcement of the suspension of the review of the reform in Parliament was preceded by long negotiations between Mr. Netanyahu and his far-right partners, in particular the Minister of Internal Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, who, according to the press , had threatened to leave the government in the event of a pause in the reform.
Mr. Ben Gvir’s party announced the signing of an agreement between the two men, granting the minister the creation of a civilian “ national guard ” under his authority, and on which no details have yet been communicated.
“ It’s a victory for the protesters, but the one who really made Netanyahu give in and trampled on him was Itamar Ben Gvir […], he obtained from him an outrageous promise: the creation of a militia which will be under his orders”, denounces Yossi Verter, political correspondent for Haaretz, on the front page of the left-wing daily.
For Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israeli Institute for Democracy, a think tank, “this is a ceasefire perhaps to regroup, reorganize and then, potentially, charge forward”.
Several members of the ruling coalition ensure that the reform will be voted on in the long term.
Thus, the Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, head of the far-right Religious Zionism party, assured Monday after Mr. Netanyahu’s speech that “reform (would) advance and the necessary changes in the judicial system and the Israeli democracy to come”.
One of the collectives behind the protests against the reform announced the continuation of the protest “as long as the judicial coup is not completely stopped”. Demonstrations are scheduled for Tuesday evening in Tel Aviv and outside Mr. Hezog’s residence in Jerusalem.