Minister of the Negev, Galilee and National Resilience Yitzhak Wasserlauf (Otzma Yehudit) spoke to Israel National News on Wednesday and rejected the calls of National Unity Party chairman Benny Gantz to return to the President's Residence for negotiations on a compromise on the judicial reform.
"We can sit down and talk, there’s no need for mediators. We were already there and they blew up the negotiations. Now they want to go back there to waste more time," stated Wasserlauf, who rejected claims that negotiations mediated by the President will calm the protests against the government.
"This protest is against a government in Israel that was democratically elected. I don't think that talks at the President's Residence can affect the protest, so we need to continue promoting the judicial reform," he said.
Wasserlauf criticized the conduct of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, saying, "We saw her clarification regarding the demonstrations at Ben Gurion Airport (in which she wrote that Ben Gurion Airport is a public space and therefore every person has the right to protest there -ed). I think the very essence of her instruction is that there is actually no instruction."
He added that he is deeply troubled by what he described as "selective enforcement" when it comes to anti-government protests.
"We need to deal with this problem and I hope that the Attorney General will come to her senses on this issue and start providing clear instructions on how to act against lawbreakers, against the blocking of major roads and against people who are blocking Ben Gurion Airport. They need to be brought to justice and the sooner the better."
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