Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his colleagues rejected a “compromise” plan presented by President Isaac Herzog as the “People’s Framework” on Wednesday evening.

The outline presented by Herzog, who was a left-wing politician before becoming president, fails to address key issues the coalition promised its voters to address – it nixes the Override Clause, allowing the Supreme Court to continue to override Knesset laws and it fails to allow elected Knesset members to maintain a majority vote on the judicial selections committee, allowing Supreme Court judges to continue to have the power to elect their left-wing colleagues only.

Additionally, although judges will no longer be able to override ministerial appointments or government decisions based on the “unreasonableness” clause, Herzog’s plan will still allow judges to use the clause in certain areas. Finally, Herzog’ plan continues to allow legal advisers to the government, including the attorney-general, to have the final authority over government decisions instead of simply fulling their positions as legal “advisers”.

Netanyahu, who had delayed his trip to Berlin in order to examine Herzog’s plan, responded by stating: “I think that any attempt to reach an agreement and to negotiate is certainly appropriate and therefore coalition representatives spoke with the president multiple times while the opposition representatives refused to do.”

“Unfortunately, the outline the president presented was not agreed upon by the coalition and key sections only perpetuate the existing situation and do not bring the required balance between the authorities in Israel. This is the unfortunate truth.”

The head of the coalition parties issued a statement, saying. “The president’s proposal means the complete revocation of the necessary changes in the judicial system. It is one-sided, biased and unacceptable. The proposal ignores the root problems presented by the president in his first speech and even exacerbates them.”

Transportation Minister Miri Regev stated that the outline is “an insult to the public’s intelligence. This is a framework that takes a clear side, against the people and the government.”

“Sorry President Herzog,” wrote activist Yishai Fleisher. “Judges must not pick other judges. Legal advisors must not be the law. That’s not democracy, it’s the dictatorship of the Supreme Court and their cronies. You came towards a tiny violent minority and did not come towards the ruling majority.”

Law professor Eugene Kontorovich stated: “So Israel’s president, a largely figurehead role not elected by the people, is presenting a ‘people’s framework’ on judicial reform, while Netanyahu, the clear winner of (many) democratic elections, is suspended from even talking about it by a totally unelected official, the attorney-general.”

Following widespread harsh criticism of his outline, Herzog stated on Thursday morning that his plan “is not the end of the discussion, but only the beginning.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)