Justice Minister Gideon Sa'ar (Zionist Spirit) attacked the Likud party, claiming that it will "completely politicize" the judicial system.
In an interview given at a conference and published by Maariv, Sa'ar said, "If [former Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu wins a majority and forms a government, there will be complete politicization of the judicial system and the system of governing. This endangers the ability to preserve the independence of the courts."
According to him, "Weakening the judicial system will lead to concentrating all of the power in the government in the enforcement authorities, which control the way judges are appointed and control the Knesset by means of a coalitionary majority. This is not the State of Israel which we knew until now. This is not a change of government. This is a change of regime and that is where Netanyahu, [Religious Zionism chief MK Bezalel] Smotrich, [Likud MK] Yariv Levin, and [Likud MK] Shlomo Karhi are leading us."
"The Likud is tricking the public and poisoning it," Sa'ar accused. "There is an MK in the Likud who said that the Supreme Court is the head of the snake, and everyone moved on as if nothing happened. They busy themselves with reaching people's hearts so they can move to a different kind of regime. This is not a democratic regime as we know a democratic regime."
When asked about the cost of living and the price of housing, Sa'ar answered, "Moving to reforms, competition, reducing obstacles and import taxes - you want to bring an immediate solution to the cost of living and therefore I suggested rethinking the use of the tax component, even temporarily, in order to stop the rise in prices and in order to make things easier for the weaker sectors."
"I know that the Finance Ministry does not like this viewpoint, because of the need for uniformity in the tax system, but it is better to find ways that the government will give up on revenue in the field of land as well, so as to reduce the price of the housing and make things easier on the public. Value added tax (VAT) was added to the price of water, and that is significant. VAT is not a holy cow which we are forbidden to touch. We can reduce, by means of taxation, the cost of living for a period of time. It's a fact that I brought up the issue of excise tax a few times. The Finance Ministry opposed, and in the end they did what I suggested - six months later."