National Unity Party chairman Benny Gantz spoke on Monday evening in the Knesset with Justice Minister Yariv Levin and informed him that if the legislation promoting the judicial reform is frozen, he would be willing to hold negotiations as early as tonight.
Gantz also spoke with President Isaac Herzog, discussed the issue with him, and asked him to help promote the outline for talks that he proposed in his speech on Sunday, and which includes a freeze of the legislation as a preliminary step.
Earlier on Monday, Levin and the chairman of the Knesset Constitution Committee, MK Simcha Rothman, announced that they were interested in entering into negotiations on the judicial reform with the opposition, which would be mediated by the President.
"Following the call of the President last night, our offices are currently contacting the offices of the head of the opposition and the chairman of Yesh Atid, MK Yair Lapid, and the chairman of the National Unity Party, MK Benny Gantz, in order to coordinate a joint meeting at the President’s Residence, later this evening."
"We call on the heads of the opposition to start negotiations without preconditions. The time has come," said Levin and Rothman.
Opposition leader and Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid responded, "As the President emphasized last night in his speech 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, mediated by the President."
"If Minister Levin and MK Rothman agree to this, we will be happy to meet at the President's residence tomorrow morning," Lapid said.
Levin and Rothman responded to Lapid and said, "We were very sorry to read the statement of the leader of the opposition, from which it appears that his only desire is to stop the legislation and not to hold real negotiations. We call on every responsible member of the Knesset in the opposition to behave differently. We would be happy to meet later this evening with any member of the opposition who is interested in real negotiations."