Those opposed to the government’s plans firmly rejected any suggestion that the coalition’s latest proposal for radically shaking up the judiciary was a compromise deal or a softening of its original plans.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid called the new proposal “a framework for a hostile political takeover of the judicial system,” suggesting it would allow the government to appoint political associates to the bench — “which is exactly what they’ve been planning from the very first day.”
Labor party chief Merav Michaeli said that “controlling the Judicial Selection Committee is bringing destruction to democracy — we cannot buy Likud’s spin.” She added that “there is no ‘compromise’ or ‘softening’ here. This was their original goal from the beginning — trying to topple the foundation of democracy. We cannot stop the protests. We cannot allow this hostile takeover.”
In the plan introduced by coalition heads overnight following a proposal by Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman, any new governing coalition would have complete control over the first two Supreme Court appointments that open up during its tenure, but would require the support of at least one opposition MK and one judge on the committee in order to make further appointments to the court. READ MORE
