BICOM

What happened: The representatives of the coalition and opposition resumed their dialogue yesterday under the auspice of the President’s office.

• President Herzog left yesterday on a diplomatic mission to meet the President of Azerbaijan, but before leaving related to the compromise talks saying, “We can reach understandings. It takes effort, goodwill, and leadership, and I say: Ignore the background noise and think about the goal…No one will violate our values or basic principles.”
• Last night the two leading opposition party leaders, Lapid and Gantz put out a joint statement: “We are continuing all the time in a true attempt to reach broad agreements, and are committed to keeping Israel democratic and stable. We are attentive to the voices and know that most of the public want dialogue over leaving the room.”
• “Dialogue at the President’s Residence is the only possibility to find a joint solution. Nonetheless, we clarified that the continuation of the talks are contingent on the chance to reach an advancement, on the commitment to the process in the room and outside of it, and on stopping the sword of the judicial overhaul with a clear commitment that there will be no legislation that will lead to a change in Israel’s system of government.”
• However, also yesterday, Religious Zionist Party MK Rothman, chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, and one of the drivers of the reforms (and not part of the compromise talks) told Kan Radio that the talks were “meaningless,” and that “if the president had wanted to lead to agreements, he had thousands of opportunities… I do not intend to waste my precious time on futile discussions.”

Context: The compromise talks resumed yesterday following a break that saw the government successfully pass a two-year budget that gives it relative stability.

• There are contradictory voices from with the ruling Likud Party on whether the issue of judicial reform will return to the legislative agenda.
• Earlier in the week Yediot Ahronot anonymously quoted several senior Likud figures who said the judicial reform is dead. They argued that given the overall circumstances, including the political and economic challenges and the social divides within society, Netanyahu has come to recognise that there is no real option of advancing the reform.
• Prime Minister Netanyahu has denied those claims, emphasising the importance of the talks at the President’s Residence. At the weekly Likud Knesset faction meeting Prime Minister Netanyahu said, “the reform is not dead, but we are making every effort at dialogue in order to reach a broad consensus. Don’t believe what you read… Not even in Yediot Ahronot. There are a lot of things going on, many processes; I don’t want to go into all of them. The people who are ‘inside’ the issues are inside; others will be soon. I understand that this is causing a certain frustration and a situation that we are not sharing things at any given moment, but the intentions are good.”
• There is continued speculation over gaps within the Likud, with Justice Minister Levin remaining hawkish in his reform agenda, whist Netanyahu appears invested in the compromise talks being led by his close confidant Minister Dermer.
• Meanwhile protests against the judicial reform have continued, on Saturday night for the 21^st consecutive week, tens of thousands demonstrated in Tel Aviv, where former Defence Minister Yaalon called on Lapid and Gantz to “stop acting as fig leaves for the prime minister” and “leave the negotiations.”
• Whilst both sides currently remain committed to dialogue, the reform of the judges selection committee bill remains frozen, but can be return to the Knesset agenda to be passed into law with a day’s notice.

Looking ahead: The next deadline is the election of the Knesset representatives for the judges selection committee, scheduled for June 14.

• In the current format the committee includes two members of Knesset, one from the government and one from the opposition. (The rest of the nine person committee includes two government ministers, three Supreme Court justices and two members of the Israel Bar Association. Also, one each of the Knesset members, ministers, judges and Bar Association members must be a woman).

• There is concern whether the government will keep with this convention, or deny an opposition a place on the committee.
• The nominees need to be presented a week earlier, by that point it will be clear if the coalition will respect the existing makeup – by only presenting one candidates.
• Even if the Knesset selects one coalition and one opposition, it is still at Justice Minister Levin’s discretion whether to convene the committee.
• Two justices for the Supreme Court, including President Hayut are due to retire at the end of October.