President Herzog Urges Compromise, Warns “Powder Keg Is About To Explode, Brother Will Raise Hand On Brother’

JERUSALEM (VINnews) —  In a televised speech, President Isaac Herzog made what he termed “a special address to the nation,” saying that Israel is “in fateful days.”

Speaking with hands shaking with emotion, Herzog says he has been working in recent weeks to seek a “broad agreement” on the government’s contentious proposals to overhaul the judiciary, adding that he has been urging the sides not to adopt a zero-sum approach.

“We will all lose, the State of Israel will lose,” if no consensual agreement is reached, the president said in the speech.

Herzog says the family of one victim of a recent terror attack asked him “to do everything to stop the madness.”

He says the divide is no longer just a political crisis, warning that “we are on the verge of constitutional and social collapse.”

Referring to the ongoing protests against the proposed changes, Herzog calls the demonstrators “patriots who are utilizing the right to protest… and are completely committed to the fate of the nation and the country.”

Despite this, the president warned that “I feel, we all feel, that we are a moment before a confrontation, even a violent confrontation. The powder keg is about to explode, and brother is about to raise his hand against brother.”

“The external threats are bad enough,” he added. Internal violence “of any type — and particular against public servants and representatives — is a red line that we must not cross.”

Herzog averred that the balance between the three branches of government is critical, that the Knesset is sovereign, and that reform and “changes can be completely legitimate.”

In a nod to critics of the judiciary, the president laments a “lack of diversity” in the courts, which he says “really disturbs” him, and says the planned shakeup “is the result of a [political] camp that feels that an imbalance has developed between the branches.”

“This pain felt by our brothers and sisters is real, and it’s a big mistake to reject or ignore it,” he says.

“On the other hand, I want to stress: the responsibility to listen, to feel pain… lies first and foremost with those who hold [power in] the institutions of government at this time,” he added.

Herzog says the government’s package of changes in its current format “raises a deep concern of their potential for harm to the State of Israel’s democratic institutions.”

Herzog praised the Supreme Court, dubbing it “the pride of our country,” and noting that “Israel’s courts and judges protect Israeli society and the state, truly, against crime, external [legal] attacks on IDF soldiers, against the loss of the principles of justice, law and morality, and the trampling of individual rights.” Says Herzog, “We are a state of the rule of law thanks to the professional, responsible, independent and autonomous judiciary.”

He notes that “millions of citizens here, alongside the Jews of the Diaspora and great supporters of Israel across the world — see the reform as a real threat to Israeli democracy.”

Finally, Herzog presented principals which he sees as the basis for a compromise: 1) Legislating a constitution which would take the place of basic laws and would be accepted by a significant majority 2) Easing the judicial burden causes backlog in cases 3) Making the court system more efficient and increasing public confidence in the judiciary 4) Restructuring the judicial appointments committee to equally represent the Knesset, the people and the judiciary itself. 5) Limiting the concept of “reasonableness” used by the courts to extreme cases.

Herzog said his principles could be a basis for compromise but urged the coalition to delay the first reading of the legislation at Monday’s Knesset committee meeting.

Coalition leaders responded to Herzog’s speech, terming it ‘hypocritical’ after the president did not intervene when the previous government legislated freely against minorities and especially targeted chareidim. Law committee head Rothman said that he would bring the law for a first reading and then wait a week to see what modifications might be required.