First reading of bills related to the judicial reform approved in the Knesset

 

The Knesset on Monday night approved the first reading of the first two laws of the judicial reform being promoted by Minister Yariv Levin.

Two bills, which relate to the Basic Law: The Judiciary, were voted upon. The two clauses which were approved are a clause dealing with changing the composition of the Judicial Selection Committee, so that it has a majority of members of the coalition, as well as a clause that will prevent the Supreme Court from striking down Basic Laws.

The bills were approved by a majority of 63 MKs who voted in favor and 47 who voted against. They will now be returned to the Knesset Constitution Committee, which will prepare them for their second and third readings.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin said after the vote, "We have taken a very important step in the process of correcting the judicial system. No longer a legal system that belongs to the elites, no longer an aristocracy. From now on - the court will belong to everyone. I am again calling on the leaders of the opposition and its members - show responsibility. Sit down and negotiate. Understandings can be reached. But the legislation cannot be watered down. I am determined to pass the reform - and nothing will deter me."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters upon leaving the plenum, "An important night and a big day. We need to enter into negotiations without preconditions."

Opposition leader Yair Lapid responded to the approval of the proposal and said, "Members of the coalition, history will judge you for this night. For the damage to democracy, for the damage to the economy, for the damage to security, for the fact that you are tearing the people of Israel apart and you simply don't care."

The chairman of the National Unity Party, MK Benny Gantz, wrote on his Twitter account, "A dark evening for democracy. Tomorrow morning we continue the fight!"

The Knesset members from the Yisrael Beytenu Party walked out of the plenum before the vote and did not participate in the vote.

Yisrael Beytenu chairman MK Avigdor Liberman said, "We left the plenum so as not to be complicit and not to give legitimacy to voting for the most illegitimate laws. We did not cause a riot, we do not want to harm the dignity of the Knesset. Unruly behavior in the plenum does not harm the coalition, but instead harms the status of the Israeli Knesset. We think that the very vote, even voting against, is legitimizing an illegitimate process. I hope that the coalition will not exist by the end of the year."

The chairwoman of the Labor Party, MK Merav Michaeli, said after the vote in the Knesset plenum, "The conduct of the coalition is unequivocal proof that there is no desire for negotiations. I call again on my friends Lapid and Gantz to inform the President that despite the good will, we will not have any contacts and no conversations with this destructive group."

Michaeli added, "Their stated goal is to trample democracy, while they lay traps and baits for us in the form of 'talking'. It's time to stop falling for their traps and join the determined fight of hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens who take to the streets week after week to stop the coup with their bodies. This is the only way to win."

Levin, who spoke in the Knesset before the vote, said, "Tonight, masses of citizens whose voices have not been heard for decades by the justice system, which was blind to their needs, which disregarded them, are raising their heads. Tonight I stand with great determination to ensure that from now on, their voices will be heard. They will be heard in the judicial system, and as a result also in other places, in academia, in the media, places where today's discourse is one-sided, and ignores the great majority of Israeli citizens."

The votes were preceded by disturbances in the Knesset plenum: Israeli flags were waved and protesters banged on the glasses in the balcony of the Knesset plenum reserved for guests. During the day dozens of people protested outside the Knesset.

Knesset Speaker MK Amir Ohana told the opposition, which has refused to negotiate on the reform, that "I thought it might be important for your voice to be heard, but apparently you don't want that. You are insulting the flag just as you are insulting the plenum."

During the vote itself, Ohana removed from the plenum several opposition Knesset members who had disrupted the process. They were permitted to return to the plenum to cast their vote, and immediately afterwards were removed once again by the Speaker of the Knesset.