President Isaac Herzog spoke on Monday evening with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, opposition leader Yair Lapid and the chairman of the National Unity Party, MK Benny Gantz, after the announcement that the legislation of the judicial reform would be paused.
The President welcomed the initiative to start an immediate negotiation process that will be launched under the auspices of the President’s Residence, in an attempt to reach a broad agreement. The President requested that working teams be established on behalf of each side for this purpose.
The President clarified that he intends to continue to allow the representatives of the various factions in the Knesset, the civil society organizations and interested parties to present their various positions and ideas as was done in the past weeks.
Gantz, meanwhile, spoke with Netanyahu on Monday evening and welcomed the stoppage of the legislation. During the conversation, Gantz called on Netanyahu to keep Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in his position, which Gantz said was "essential for national security and to calm the spirits at this time."
In his address to the nation earlier on Monday, Netanyahu said that the judicial reform will not be advanced in the current Knesset session.
"For three months, I have called for dialogue. I also said that I would leave no stone unturned in order to reach a solution. Because I remember, we remember, that we are not facing enemies: we are facing our brothers. I say here and now: we must not have a civil war," he said.
"We are now on a path towards a very dangerous collision in Israeli society, which jeopardizes the basic unity between us, and such a crisis obligates all of us to act responsibly," continued Netanyahu.
"Out of national responsibility, out of a desire to prevent a rift in the nation, I have decided to postpone the second third reading of the law in this session of the Knesset in order to give time to try to reach a wide agreement on the legislation in the next session of the Knesset. This way, we will bring about a reform that will restore the balance which has been lost, while maintaining and even strengthening human and individual rights," he declared.
The Prime Minister said that a majority of his allies in the coalition support the move to freeze the legislation changing the composition of the judicial selection committee. The Otzma Yehudit party had earlier announced that Netanyahu and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir had reached an agreement on the freezing of the legislation.
Herzog later welcomed Netanyahu's announcement that the judicial reform legislation would be frozen until the Knesset's summer session in order to give time to reach a negotiated solution to the crisis.
"Stopping the legislation is the right thing. This is the time to begin a sincere, serious, and responsible dialogue that will urgently calm the waters and lower the flames," Herzog said.
"I call on everyone to act responsibly. Protests and demonstrations, on whichever side - yes. Violence - absolutely not! If one side wins, the state will lose. We must remain one people and one state - Jewish and democratic," he added.
"For the sake of our unity and for the sake of our children's future, we must start talking, here and now. The President's Residence, the People's Home, is a space for dialogue and the formation of as broad agreements as possible, with the aim of extracting our beloved State of Israel from the deep crisis that we are in. "And you gave peace in the Land, and eternal joy to its inhabitants," the President said.
Gantz welcomed the freezing of the legislation and said that he is ready to hold talks on the judicial reforms at the President's Residence, but he has red lines in the negotiations.
"We will work to strengthen democracy, improve governance, and maintain the independence of the judiciary. We will not compromise on the principles of democracy, on civil service, and on a comprehensive legislative law - we will leave no stone unturned to succeed. We just started to see the bad alternative to governance - we don't have the mandate to fail," he stated.
Lapid responded to Netanyahu's announcement about the suspension of the legislation and said, "We must let the President establish a negotiation mechanism and trust him as a fair mediator. That's all we've been asking for in the last two months: Real, constructive dialogue from a leadership that's ready to take responsibility."
"As we have a bitter experience from the past, we will first of all make sure that there is no trickery here. We heard with concern the report according to which Netanyahu told his associates, 'I am not really stopping, I am only calming the spirits.'"
"If he tries to trick us, he will again find hundreds of thousands of Israeli patriots in front of him who are determined to fight for our democracy. We are determined to be the protective wall of the Jewish and democratic state," stated Lapid.
"On the other hand, if the government comes to real and fair negotiations, we can come out of this stronger, more united, and turn this moment into a defining moment in our common life," said Lapid.