Reservation votes on judge selection bill to continue Sunday

AuthorMICHAEL STARR
Published date23 March 2023
Publication titleJerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)
The committee rejected 1,900 reservations out of the 5,400 submitted in recent days

Two reservations removing factional diversity were approved by the committee and would be attached to the bill and voted on by the Knesset during the second reading.

The current version of the bill requires each political representative on the appointment panel to be from a different faction. Opposition and coalition members had objected to the inclusion of factional diversity quotas. The attached reservations were submitted by Likud MK Ariel Kallner and Likud MK Moshe Saada.

"It is not possible for different parties to receive one representative in the same way, so I propose that the government decide for the coalition and the Knesset for its members," said Likud MK Moshe Saada. "The government will change and it's correct that the majority faction will have more representation."

Kallner said that "The goal is to create diversity, but it cannot be that small and large parties will receive the same level of representation."

Opposition members such as Hadash Ta'al MK Ofer Cassif argued that not only would the coalition have control, but now it would have a partisan majority.

Yisrael Beytenu ML Oded Forer said that the acceptance of the factional diversity reservations raised a new issue, and the committee had to decide on it before the Knesset could vote.

The committee receives hundreds of reservations

When other opposition members tried to support the new issue raised by Forer, Law Committee chairman Simcha Rothman asked them to submit their claims in the form of hundreds of reservations.

The opposition asked the committee's legal advisor to weigh in on Rothman's request serving as a punitive measure. Rothman was also upset about the way that the opposition was raising issues and reservations.

"Every MK has the right to submit a new issue," said committee legal adviser Dr. Gur Bligh. "There is an understanding that this power is not misused by all parties because it can lead to absurd situations. This like all parliamentary instruments is a delicate game. In the end, it's a tool that, like many tools, is designed to ensure that irrelevant things don't get in and is sometimes used for a filibuster."

Throughout the night, MKs protested against the process of the votes. Due to the large amount of reservations, Rothman had decided to use a special procedure to group the objections by subject.

Rothman had also called to discuss the substantial reservations, which Labor MK Gilad...

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