National Unity leader Benny Gantz addressed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this evening (Sunday) and offered to reach a last-minute agreement regarding the reasonability clause and the judicial reform, and promised that the agreement would be binding for the next Knesset as well.
"Netanyahu, this is an appeal from me to you just before we plunge into the abyss. First of all - a speedy recovery and good health. The State of Israel is on its way to crossing the red line. People do not sleep at night. Soldiers feel that the state is abandoning them. The heads of the economy warn of an economic collapse. Raisi, Nasrallah, Sinwar - all our enemies are looking at all of this. Look me in the eyes, and look all the citizens of Israel in the eyes: to the Armor Corps, to Golani, and to the pilots, to the worried mother from Dimona, to the elderly man who was in the Palmach from the northern kibbutzim to the students from Tel Aviv. Is it really worth cutting off our common identity under the pressure of the extremists?" Gantz began.
He added, "I know, it's politically difficult, I know - there is also the feeling of many that they are being unfairly coerced. But you are the Prime Minister - and the responsibility is on your shoulders. Returning to the President's House, agreeing on a reasonability clause that will not harm democracy, and continuing to promote all judicial and administrative legislation by agreement is the right and proper move, just as I suggested on Wednesday. This is not the time to argue about who is right - this is the time to be smart and do the right thing. This is not surrender - this is the right national responsibility".
"I propose tonight, out of fairness, to you and to all the members of the house from the various factions, that if we go to the outline of agreements, it will be binding not only for this Knesset but also for the next Knesset - this is what all the heads of the coalition and the opposition will commit to. We will announce that there will be no judicial or administrative legislation that has consequences for the nature of the government in Israel without broad agreement and discussion within the same mechanism so that we do not return to this upheaval that is happening to all of us.”
“It is also good for the side that supports the legislation - after all, if the current legislation is passed, there will obviously be a reaction, and with the help of God and the will of the voter, we will cancel it the day after the next elections."
"I am putting before you this evening the option of holding a legislative process that will be established for years to come and will not become a passing stain in the history of the State of Israel. I am calling you - this is the time for leadership. 'Avoid evil and do good, seek peace between us - and pursue it (Psalms),'" he concluded.
Even before Gantz's statement, there was a meeting between President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Netanyahu regarding a compromise on reducing the reasonability clause that was held at a Sheba hospital where Netanyahu was hospitalized after having a pacemaker implanted. The president is scheduled to meet later this evening with the head of the opposition MK Yair Lapid on the same matter.