Israel: Negotiators close to agreement on two points of judicial reform - report

Negotiators from the government coalition, and the opposition, have reported progress on two points of the planned judicial reform, a report said on Wednesday. 

The first issue that the parties allegedly agreed on is the "reasonableness" of laws and government decisions, notably invoked by the Supreme Court when it thwarted the appointment of Shas party leader Aryeh Deri to the interior minister post. The second one has to do with the status of legal advisers, according to the Israeli broadcaster Kan.

Agreements on these two points should give both sides more time to continue working on more contentious issues that are still far from settled, such as the composition of the judicial appointments committee and the notwithstanding clause. The opposition has, however, repeatedly hammered that without agreement on all issues, there would be no agreement at all.

Benny Gantz's National Union party pledged "to keep Israel stable and democratic" and to make "no compromise on the depoliticization of the judicial system". “Unfortunately, there is no progress and there will be no agreements until the issue of the judges' selection committee is resolved,” the party added.

Separately, the chairman of the parliament’s Constitution Committee, MK Simcha Rothman, said in an interview on Tuesday that he was "pessimistic about the possibility of reaching an agreement". According to him, "the reform will be promoted by parties according to the decision of the coalition leaders".

He further claimed that the failure of the negotiations would endanger the governing coalition. Talks on the judicial reform compromise resumed Tuesday at the president's residence.