Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, declared on Sunday that this week will see some progress on his coalition’s plan for judicial reform.
Netanyahu informed the Cabinet ministers assembled at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem for their customary weekly meeting that “we will meet this week and begin practical steps in the legal reform.”
The prime minister charged that negotiations on a settlement were not taken seriously by opposition leaders Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) and Benny Gantz (National Unity).
In order to give himself more time to come to an agreement, Netanyahu put the reform plan on hold in late March.
Following that declaration, President Isaac Herzog conducted a number of talks with representatives from various Knesset factions in an effort to reach an agreement.
“What has been proven is that Gantz and Lapid were playing a game.
It was a misrepresentation of so-called negotiations.
We gave three months; their representatives did not agree to the most minimal understanding.
They tried to kill every amendment.
We will take the steps in a measured manner according to the mandate we received [from the voters],” Netanyahu said.
Lapid said, “If Netanyahu advances with his coup plan unilaterally, as he stated, he will find out that he is prime minister of less than half of the people of Israel, with less than half of the economy, less than half of the security establishment, and less than half of the Knesset.”
As a response to Netanyahu’s comments, the leaders of the anti-government protest movement declared that the prime minister’s “threats to the judicial system will be met with an appropriate Zionist response—demonstrations and disruptions that will result in the failure of any attempt to harm the legal system and Israeli democracy.”
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