Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told ministers over the weekend that the coalition’s original legislation aimed at securing control over the Judicial Selection Committee will not be revived.
The legislation was one of the central tenants of the judicial overhaul, crafted by the package’s architects Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Constitution Law and Justice Committee chairman Simcha Rothman.
It was nearly voted into law in March, with the coalition clearing it for final votes, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to temporarily pause the judicial overhaul effort in order to launch negotiations with the opposition aimed at a compromise.
But according to a Sunday report in the Kan public broadcaster, Netanyahu told fellow ministers, “Everyone understands that the previous law regarding the Judicial Selection Committee will not be advanced.”
He claimed that he was planning to submit a more moderate bill restructuring the committee but that this effort was delayed by Renegade Likud MK Tally Gotliv who refused to rescind her candidacy for the panel last week in what led to an embarrassing parliamentary defeat for the coalition.
Likud MK Tally Gotliv peeks from behind a curtain as she casts her vote for candidates to the Judicial Selections Committee, at the Knesset on June 14, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Gotliv, in turn, claimed Sunday that the loss was Netanyahu’s doing, claiming his office had sought to convince her to vote for the opposition’s candidate to serve on the Judicial Selection Committee.
While Netanyahu conceded defeat on the coalition’s original bill to reshape the Judicial Selection Committee, Kan reported Sunday that the premier told ministers that he would soon advance another two bills of the overhaul package instead: one limiting the ability of the judiciary to review government decisions and appointments through what is known as the reasonableness test, and another limiting the authority and standing of government legal advisers, who frequently trigger right-wing ire by blocking radical ministerial policy initiatives.
Those two bills, while substantive, are much less far-reaching than other central elements of the coalition’s suspended overhaul package. That slew of bills includes ones that would give the governing majority almost complete control over all judicial appointments, drastically constrain the High Court’s capacity to protect basic rights and largely prevent it from serving as a brake on government abuse.
The heads of the coalition parties are scheduled to meet on Monday to flesh out the details of the legislation the government will advance.
