Exchanges of text messages between Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and opposition leader Yair Lapid show how the compromise efforts that Gallant tried to lead during the vote on the law limiting the reasonableness standard failed.
Kan 11 News revealed on Sunday that Lapid sent a message to Gallant and wrote: "I have no way of doing this. Liberman and Michaeli are not interested."
Lapid responded to Gallant's proposal to postpone the start of the law to January 2024 in order to allow almost six additional months of talks on the judicial reform, in an attempt to achieve an overall compromise.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Gallant that he would agree to the offer. Lapid also expressed interest in the Defense Minister's proposal, but he was unable to recruit his partners to the opposition and thus the compromise proposal fell through.
Since the talks failed, Lapid has often hurled accusations at Netanyahu and ministers Yariv Levin and Itamar Ben-Gvir. Now it turns out that there were also those on the other side who knocked on the table in one way or another. Today, Lapid set a condition for returning to the talks at the President's Residence - freezing the legislative reform for a period of 18 months.
It is doubtful if Netanyahu could truly have organized a compromise in the coalition during the vote. But this correspondence reveals that Lapid certainly could not lead such a move.
A statement on behalf of Lapid said, "From day one, we said there was no point in counting on Netanyahu's promises, because he will always lie. What is not decided in advance in legislation, will not happen. Last-minute solutions in the plenary are not the right way when dealing with crooks."
Likud responded: "The truth is coming out. As we have said all along, the Likud and the coalition parties are the ones who reached out for compromises - and did so until the last moment. But the opposition led by Lapid, who was held captive by the protest leaders, torpedoed and prevented any attempt at agreement this time. Lapid, stop hiding and come speak."