During a day that saw close to 100,000 people protest in front of the Knesset in Jerusalem over the proposed judicial reforms of the Netanyahu coalition, the two men leading the push for the reform affirmed their willingness to talk with the opposition, but under no preconditions.

In a joint statement by the Minister of Justice, Knesset Member (MK) Yariv Levin, and the Chairman of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, MK Simcha Rothman, the leaders behind the judicial reform legislation asked opposition leaders to meet with them at the President’s residence but refused to halt the legislative process during the talks. Their request was shut down by Yair Lapid, likely due to pressure from the leaders of the protest against the reform.

Is the Netanyahu government blinking? After weeks of insisting the “legal reform” would be discussed only in the Knesset Law Committee and plenum, Justice Minister Levin and Committee Chair Rothman have offered Lapid and Gantz to hold a joint meeting on it with President Herzog

— Anshel Pfeffer אנשיל פפר (@AnshelPfeffer) February 13, 2023

"Following the call of the President last night, our offices are currently contacting the offices of the head of the opposition and chairman of Yesh Atid, MK Yair Lapid, and the chairman of the “Mahane Halaomi” (National Camp), MK Benny Gantz, in order to coordinate a joint meeting with the President of the State, this evening". In their statement it was stated, "We call on the leaders of the opposition to start negotiations without preconditions. It's time".

Opposition Chairman Yair Lapid responded: "As the President emphasized in his speech last night and as has been repeatedly explained, the necessary condition for the start of a national dialogue is an immediate halt to all legislative processes for a limited time during which the dialogue will take place through the mediation of the President. If Minister Levin and MK Rothman agree to this, we will be happy to meet at the president's residence tomorrow morning."

Levin and Rothman responded: "We were very sorry to read the statement of the head of the opposition, from which it appears that his only desire is to stop the legislation and not to have a real dialogue. We call on every responsible Knesset member in the opposition to behave differently. We will be happy to meet this evening with any party in the opposition who is interested in a real discussion."  The legislative components of the bill have already begun making their way through the process, with the first of three readings of the bill which limits the court's power of certain legislation, set to be voted on as early as this coming Monday. 

Were minister Levin and lawmaker Rothman serious about the dialogue offer they would have made it privately first rather than going straight to the media, Lapid says, in what is beginning to feel like an exchange between feuding neighbors in a tenant committee WhatsApp group.

— Dan Williams (@DanWilliams) February 13, 2023

 Lapid gave his rebuttal through social media, writing: "If Minister Levin and MK Rothman were serious about their proposal, they would agree to stop the legislation until the end of the negotiations and maybe even bother to inform the president and me in advance of their proposal instead of hearing about it in the media."

The organizers of the massive demonstration against the judicial reform that was happening outside also responded to the coalition’s request by urging Lapid and Gantz to not negotiate at this point. "We call on Lapid and Gantz to refuse Levin's proposal. There are no decrees without the enshrinement of the legislation."

So Levin & Rothman heed the call of President Herzog and extend hand of dialogue to Opposition. What does Lapid do? Rejects it. How irresponsible can this be? Perhaps he had no intention to negotiate at all, and rather hold the country to ransom. pic.twitter.com/oNkBvwuMDu

— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) February 13, 2023

Meanwhile, sources involved said that the Knesset's ombudsman informed Netanyahu's lawyers that the prime minister is not allowed to publicly refer to the president's outline mediation process due to an inherent conflict of interest as he is Head-of-State but also a Knesset member pushing for the legislation. However, the ruling does allow Netanyahu to discuss the proposal in general.