Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid calls for 18-month freeze on judicial reforms as condition for talks

The leader of Israel’s parliamentary opposition and former caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid, on Sunday (July 30) demanded that the incumbent government freeze its judicial overhaul for 18 months as a condition for the negotiations over the bill to resume. This comes nearly a week after Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s government passed a “reasonableness bill” to curb the top court’s power.

Lapid’s condition and claims

The leader of the opposition and chief of the Yesh Atid party took to X, formerly known as Twitter, and said that the “only” possible solution and thing that will allow a return to negotiations is a freeze on the government’s judicial overhaul plan.

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In line with this, he called for the enactment of an 18-month moratorium which itself would have to be legislated by the opposition and government. Earlier, after talks broke down, Netanyahu pressed aheadon Monday (July 24)to pass the “reasonableness bill” anyway.

The changes made during that period would require a two-thirds majority, said the opposition leader, on Sunday, after demanding a jointly passed legislation to pause the judicial overhaul for 18 months.

Lapid, on the microblogging platform, said that both he and Israeli President Isaac Herzog thought that they were going to sign the 11th-hour agreement reached after talks, but then Justice Minister Yariv Levin and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir blocked its finalisation.

“Gvir and Levin entered the room, banged on the table and Netanyahu capitulated to them,” Lapid told the Kan public broadcasterin an interviewon Saturday. In a series of posts on X, the Israeli lawmaker said that the freeze is necessary to stop Netanyahu’s government from backing out at the last minute.

Herzog – who plays a largely ceremonial role – reportedly scrambled ahead of the vote, on Monday, in a last-ditch effort to amend the bill or to come to a broader agreement between Netanyahu’s Likud party and the opposition, but failed.

Pressure mounts on Netanyahu government

Last week, Netanyahu’s government passed the first part of a judicial overhaul in the Israeli parliament (Knesset) called the “reasonableness bill” which seeks to strip the top court of the power to declare government decisions unreasonable.

However, the clause is just one part of a broader package of reforms targeted at Israel’s judicial system by the right-wing coalition. The key clause was passed with 64 votes in favour — mainly by lawmakers of the ruling coalition— and zero against it, as the entire 56-member opposition boycotted the vote in protest.

Since then, protesters have continued to ramp up pressure on the Netanyahu government and renewed their months-long nationwide demonstrations against the controversial overhaul of the country’s judiciary.

Additionally, army reservists are now threatening to refuse duty, per The Guardian. Experts have argued that the reforms threaten to undo the ‘apolitical melting pot’ of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).

(With inputs from agencies)

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