Opposition leader Yair Lapid claimed Thursday that a new, cross-camp alliance had been created with Wednesday’s selection of an opposition lawmaker to serve on the key panel that picks the nation’s judges, saying the coalition MKs who voted for her were committed to “safeguarding Israeli democracy” and opposed to the government’s proposed judicial overhaul.
Speaking at a conference at Reichman University in Herzliya, Lapid hailed the several coalition members who bucked coalition discipline in a secret-ballot vote and helped elect Yesh Atid MK Karine Elharrar to the politically fraught Judicial Selection Committee, a move that was seen as dealing a blow to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Yesh Atid party chief said the unnamed rebellious coalition members had not been promise anything in exchange for their vote, adding that some of them had even pledged to openly vote in the future against parts of the overhaul that they deem harmful to the country.
Elharrar was elected 58-56, meaning at least four coalition members broke ranks to vote for her. The only other name on the ballot, Likud’s Tally Gotliv, was defeated soundly after she threw the coalition into a tailspin by refusing to pull her maverick candidacy.
The opposition ran an organized campaign to recruit Likud MKs to push Elharrar’s candidacy over the line. Although the ballots were secret, MKs David Bitan and Yuli Edelstein, as well as Yoav Gallant and fellow minister Gila Gamliel, are among the top names thought to have tipped the scales in Elharrar’s favor.
A second, separate election will be conducted within 30 days to choose the second lawmaker on the committee, likely Otzma Yehudit MK Yitzhak Kroizer of the coalition.
Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid, left, and party MK Karine Elharrar during a joint press conference at the Knesset in Jerusalem, June 14, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
The results were an embarrassment for the prime minister, demonstrating his apparent lack of control over his own lawmakers. One immediate ramification: Opposition leaders said the day’s events, which included Netanyahu trying to delay the vote for a month, showed he could not be trusted, and announced they would cut off talks on a consensus for judicial reform hosted by President Isaac Herzog until the Judicial Selection Committee convenes.
Judicial appointments are a core tenet of the coalition’s plan to shake up the judiciary, and a core sticking point in negotiations held at the President’s Residence. Justice Minister Yariv Levin, the overhaul’s chief proponent, recently called the current panel makeup “invalid” and “unworthy” of a democracy, as he seeks to assert political control over judge picks.
Opposition lawmakers and an ongoing protest movement have said increasing political influence over judges would end judicial independence and cause grievous harm to democracy.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu casts his vote for candidates to the Judicial Selections Committee in the Knesset, on June 14, 2023. (AP/Ohad Zwigenberg)
“What we saw yesterday in the Knesset vote was the beginning of a new Israeli alliance,” said Lapid Thursday morning. “From the chaos and mayhem and lies, an alliance has been created that no longer deals with right, left and center — but rather with an attempt to safeguard the State of Israel.
“Coalition MKs who went behind the screen and voted in favor of MK Karine Elharrar did not switch parties [and] did not receive any promise. They did it because they are decent people and are no longer willing to be part of the mechanism destroying Israeli society. I am full of respect for this,” the opposition chief added.
“We will keep working with them to ensure the well-being of Israeli democracy,” Lapid said. “Some of them are telling us: ‘Even in an open vote, we won’t cooperate with anything that damages the State of Israel. We weren’t elected to the Knesset to serve the extremists.’
“This alliance is the future of the country. A patriotic, liberal, decent, incorrupt majority that acts to boost security, to lower the cost of living, to create a constitution, and most of all — that is determined to ensure that this nation won’t be torn apart,” he said.
Members of the coalition during a vote on the Judicial Selection Committee at the Knesset plenum in Jerusalem, June 14, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Senior Likud members have expressed opposition to the judicial overhaul in recent days, saying the effort hurt public support for the party and pushed other significant items off the agenda, the Haaretz daily reported Wednesday evening.
“More and more ministers and MKs in the coalition are signaling to Netanyahu to back down from the reforms and distance himself from Yariv Levin,” a coalition lawmaker told Haaretz.
Channel 12 news quoted a Likud lawmaker who said they backed Elharrar in the secret ballot, amid widespread speculation that Netanyahu had sought to pacify the opposition after it threatened to pull out of talks aimed at bridging wide gaps over changes to the judiciary if no opposition representative was put on the panel.
The Likud member said that had Elharrar not won enough support, protests would have erupted and ramped up beyond the fevered pitch they hit in late March when Israelis took to the streets to protest the firing of Gallant, who had he urged a suspension of the overhaul. Netanyahu retracted the firing and froze the overhaul campaign to allow for talks in response to the mass demonstrations.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
