Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Constitution Committee chairman Simcha Rothman held a press conference this evening regarding the judicial reform plan.
"The crisis of fait in the courts is a dangerous thing. There are voices that demand that we must, here and now, pass the reform without any compromises - this is simply not the right process. We have decided to slow down and reach out for negotiations," said Smotrich.
The Chairman of the Constitution Committee, MK Simcha Rothman, commented: "I call on my friends in the opposition, the people I talked to from academia, high-tech, the economy and all parts of Israeli society, to reach back. A settlement can be reached with a broad consensus," Rothman said.
The announcement brought a wave of criticism from the opposition.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid commented: "For those who did not understand the truth among all the lies told by Smotrich and Rothman: they continue the legislation, continue to destroy the economy, disband the IDF, threaten to disobey court rulings, destroy democracy, tear the people apart, but refuse to take responsibility for their actions and only blame others. They are not only dangerous, they are also cowards."
National Unity leader Benny Gantz commented: "There is no end to the hypocrisy - while they are managing the destruction of the justice system in the Constitutional Committee, Smotrich and Rothman call to stop and talk. The destruction is your responsibility. The destruction is Netanyahu's responsibility. Stop everything and we will talk later tonight."
Labor Party leader MK Merav Michaeli commented: "Smotrich thinks the public is stupid. He and his friends are taking over the Supreme Court and trampling on democracy like in Hungary and Poland, and at the same time trying to blame the hundreds of thousands of individuals that go to demonstrations against the damage he and his friends are causing to the country, with the coup laws they are promoting. It won't work for you this time. The protest will intensify until your dangerous and anti-democratic legislative blitz is thrown into the trash can," Michaeli said.
The leaders of the protest against the reform commented "After threatening to wipe out villages, now Finance Minister Smotrich announces his intention to wipe out and crush Israeli democracy and the economy and cause fatal harm to every family in Israel. A government that appoints this pyromaniac as a senior minister and its members declare that they will violate the ruling of the Supreme Court is an illegitimate government. This coming Thursday we will go out en masse for the day of paralysis to stop the madness. We must resist the dictatorship."
The Movement for the Quality of Government commented: "Those who are burning the country and acting irresponsibly are the ones who bring the coup laws, despite the warnings of all the professionals - not the hundreds of thousands of protesters who go out week after week to demonstrations and protect Israeli democracy with their bodies and souls."