After Benny Gantz dismissed reports last week regarding a compromise surrounding the judicial reform, today (Sunday), Opposition Leader Yair Lapid addressed the issue for the first time at the annual Social Justice Conference of the Centers for Social Justice: "The goal of the compromise is to arrange a meeting for Netanyahu at the White House."
Lapid commented on the compromise reports, saying, "I haven't responded to the compromise plan presented last week, and not by accident. Already a month ago, I told my colleagues a few days before the High Court hearings and before Netanyahu's trip to the United States, 'Suddenly, a compromise proposal will emerge that will seem to be too good to be true.'
"You should know that it is indeed not genuine. Its purpose will not be to reach an agreement, but rather to arrange a meeting for Netanyahu in the White House and, above all, to raise difficulties for the judges of the Supreme Court while they are deliberating on the appeals. The farce of the past week has proven that it would have been better to heed this warning. Nevertheless, we must continue to make every effort to prevent the rift within the people of Israel."
Lapid: "At the time, the coalition rejected the idea outright"
"Distinguishing from the Prime Minister and his ministers," said Lapid, "we have a national responsibility for the fate of this country. What we need to do is what I proposed immediately after the vote on the reduction of the Clause of Reasonability: after the deliberations in the Supreme Court, we should go into an 18-month freeze on legislation related to the regime change. Such a freeze should be preserved by law."
"I presented a bill proposal to the President," claimed Yesh Atid's leader, "which was drafted by Prof. Suzie Navot, stating that any change related to the democratic foundations of the Israeli regime can only be made with broad agreement between the coalition and the opposition. The coalition rejected the idea at the time, but the proposal for an 18-month freeze now also appears in the reported compromise, so it seems that even in the government, there are those who understand that this is the right thing to do."
"A year and a half of quiet is what this country and its citizens need as a breath of fresh air. It is enough time to reach broad agreements; it is also the time we need for the recovery and healing of the economy, the people's army, and Israeli society. I am suggesting that after the discussions in the Supreme Court, the Knesset votes for an 18-month freeze on legislation. Then, we can have a real and in-depth discussion to try to prevent the terrible divide in the people of Israel."
"We need a real conscription law"
The chairman of the opposition also referred to the conscription law when he said: "Our next fight will be against the evasion law. It can't pass. The ultra-Orthodox should enlist like our children, and they should work like the rest of us. The data is in front of us. If this does not happen, the Israeli economy will not withstand it, and the Israeli society will not withstand it. We need a real conscription law, with indicators, with targets, with sanctions, that will lead to the ultra-Orthodox enlisting and joining the army, and then entering the labor market and supporting themselves and their children."
He concluded with a strong statement: "We will not accept laws that sow division and conflict, and we will not accept toothless compromises whose sole purpose is political interest. We will not allow the dismantling of the People's Army. We will not continue to be the only country in the world that pays people not to work."
