Intelligence Minister Dan Meridor on Saturday evening told Channel 2 that the wave of judicial reform bills introduced in the Knesset in recent weeks would set Israel "back decades."
"I cannot accept that Israel will go back decades," Meridor said. "I want the government to stop this trend."
Meridor continued, "The government will not back such laws, and in my opinion, it doesn't advocate them. If these bills pass I won't sit with them."
"Talking about the Supreme Court as an elite leftist body is shocking," Meridor said, referring to a bill that would require prospective Supreme Court justices be vetted by a Knesset committee – much as United States Supreme Court justices are vetted by the US Senate.
"The current wave of legislation will turn Israel into a nationalist rather than a national state," Meridor said, claiming, "Liberalism was the original purpose of the Likud under Prime Minister Begin."
"The main thing is to continue the struggle against those who don't want to follow the rules," he added.
MK Danny Danon, one of several Likud lawmakers behind the recent slate of bills, said he was unimpressed by Meridor's threat to ask the government to oppose the new legislation - and invited him to leave the party.
"The Likud is not a branch of Kadima," Danon said. "If the majority position of the Likud is not acceptable to him, he should draw the correct conclusions about his political position."
"Minister Meridor, the door is open," Danon added.