Judicial Reforms Negotiations Focus on Judicial Selection Committee

Teams from the coalition and opposition parties Yesh Atid and National Unity held their first marathon negotiating session over the content of the government’s judicial reform on Monday, April 17, at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Jerusalem.

The session, which lasted for approximately six hours, focused on Basic Law: The Judiciary and on the method of selecting judges, according to a statement by the President’s Office.

The talks were held in a “positive, professional and serious atmosphere,” and the sides were “committed to continuing the negotiation process in order to arrive at an agreement.”

The members of the negotiating teams, as well as the President’s Office, remained tight-lipped about the content of the meetings and the proposals that were laid on the table. The talks were held at the Waldorf Astoria instead of the President’s Residence, reportedly because the latter is being prepared for Independence Day events.

Yesh Atid and National Unity said in a joint statement after the meeting that “We will continue to do everything possible to arrive at constitutive legislation that will strengthen Israeli democracy and the State of Israel.”

A member of the Likud team, MK Hanoch Milwidsky, wrote on Twitter that the “optimism that I expressed after the previous discussion, believe it or not, still exists. There is a lot to work on, but there are also those to work with.” (JPost / VFI News)