The authors of the government's judicial reform invited the leaders of the opposition on Monday to meet at President Isaac Herzog's Jerusalem office as early as possible to discuss a compromise on the details of the controversial proposal.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Chairman of the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee Simcha Rothman invited opposition heads Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz to begin talks without preconditions, saying "it is time."
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Simcha Rothman, Yariv Levin, Benny Gantz, Yair Lapid
(Photo: AFP, Alex Kolomoisky, Yoav Dudkevtich)
In response, Lapid said he would accept the offer only if the legislative process is halted.
Evoking a compromise outline presented by Herzog, Lapid said that "as the president had underscored in his speech and as has been explained repeatedly, the necessary condition for the beginning of a national dialog is the immediate cessation of all legislative processes for a period of time in which the talks will be brokered by the president."
“If MK Levin and MK Rothman agree to this, we will be happy to deliberate at the president’s official residence tomorrow morning.”
Levin and Rothman replied to Lapid's response, saying: “We were very disappointed by Lapid's announcement from which it appears that he only wishes to stop the legislation and not hold a real dialog."
"We call on every responsible member of Knesset in the opposition to act differently. We will be happy to meet with any opposition party that is interested in real dialog.”
Following the remarks, Lapid said: “If Levin and Rothman had taken their proposal seriously, they would have agreed to stop the legislation until the end of talks and maybe even bothered to update the president and me in advance of their proposal, rather than letting us hear about it from the media.”