Teams from the coalition and opposition parties Yesh Atid and National Unity held their first marathon negotiating session over the content of the government’s judicial reform on Monday at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Jerusalem.
The session, which lasted for approximately six hours, focused on Basic Law: The Judiciary and on the method of selecting judges in Israel, according to a statement by the Office of the President.
The talks were held in a “positive, professional and serious atmosphere,” and the sides were “committed to continuing the negotiation process in order to arrive at an agreement.” Another session will be held on Tuesday and will focus on Basic Law: The Legislature, according to the statement.
The talks on Monday were held at the Waldorf Astoria instead of the President’s Residence due to the latter being prepared for Independence Day events, according to a Channel 14 report.
What did the judicial reform negotiations discuss?
Previous talks between the sides focused on the framework for the talks themselves. While legal experts met during Passover to map out the central areas of disagreement, Monday was the first time politicians from both sides sat down to discuss the actual content.
Yesh Atid and National Unity said in a joint statement after the meeting that their teams “stressed the need to arrive at broad agreements while maintaining all of the democratic principles, upon which we will not compromise.”
“We will continue to do everything possible in order to arrive at constitutive legislation that will strengthen Israeli democracy and the State of Israel,” the two opposition parties said.
A member of the Likud team, MK Hanoch Milwidsky, wrote on Twitter,
“The optimism that I expressed after the previous discussion, believe it or not – still exists. There is a lot to work on, but there are also those to work with.”
Hanoch Milwidsky
The Labor Party announced on Sunday morning that its negotiation team was dropping out of the talks, citing reports of backroom discussions being conducted without their involvement.
Another opposition party, Yisrael Beytenu, refused to participate in the talks from the outset. Party chairman MK Avigdor Liberman reiterated his position on Saturday that the talks were a “scam” intended to dissolve the protests.