Former Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, who was at the forefront of the legal proceedings against Prime Minister Netanyahu, addressed the judicial reform on Tuesday at the INSS National Security Research Conference. "The founding fathers of the State of Israel believed in the values embodied in the state of independence. We are experiencing a regime coup, and not really a so-called legal reform."
Former President of the Supreme Court Dorit Beinisch, who spoke at the conference, also warned against the plan and said “the government seeks to take over all democratic institutions." The former head of the National Assembly, Eyal Hulta, warned: "There is a danger to cohesion and national security."
🚨 Former AG Avichai Mandelblit: "This is a legislative abomination. A coup d'État. It is the Supreme Court's duty to put a stop to it." pic.twitter.com/DtAaBJHqTa
— Noga Tarnopolsky נגה טרנופולסקי نوغا ترنوبولسكي (@NTarnopolsky) March 1, 2023
Mandelblit referred to the negotiation initiatives surrounding the judicial reform and said it is reasonable yet too late in the game to be relevant. According to him "there is no negotiation here. This is about the complete cancellation of the democratic regime system, of the court. It is impossible to talk about the complete cancellation of the independence of the judicial system. Therefore, under no circumstances should we speak before they stop this legislation. Stop, this is the minimum required. If they pass even one of the legislations, there will be nothing to talk about at all."
Mandelblit expressed hope that if the legislation passes the Knesset, the Supreme Court will overturn it. "It is not only their right, but it will be their duty to do so. I trust them, that these two lines of defense will not be breached, and they will fulfill their legal duty in the spirit of the commandments of the fathers and founders."
Israeli President Herzog and President Biden called for consensus and compromise. Netanyahu called for direct talks.
— Jacob N. Kornbluh (@jacobkornbluh) February 28, 2023
But Mandelblit says “a condition for any discourse must be nothing less than a complete stop of the entire legislative process - this is the minimum required.”
The former official also said: "The initiators of the coup said that the prosecutor general would be a political appointment of the government. A general political claim? Where will we go? All the proposals that are advanced these days are intended to harm the independence of the legal foundations, and to cancel their role as gatekeepers of the State of Israel." Mandelblit wondered: "Is this the way? Is this the spirit of the Declaration of Independence? Is this Menachem Begin's way? How can we protect the individual without the supremacy of the law."
He said, “We are experiencing an overturn of the regime – definitely not judicial reform. Under no circumstances should we talk with them until they cancel this legal abomination entirely.”
— INSS (@INSSIsrael) February 28, 2023
The former President of the Supreme Court, Dorit Beinisch, who served between 2006-2012, also warned at the conference about the legal revolution: "The reform, as said, is not a legal reform at all. The question of whether to amend it or not is not on the agenda, and it is not a right-wing issue either. or the left.”
