Judicial Overhaul Talks On Brink Of Collapse With Netanyahu Looking To Delay Key Vote

Israeli media outlets report that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed his party to block all candidates for the Judicial Selection Committee (JSC). This would push back the key vote on nominations for the nine-member panel appointing Israeli judges by up to 30 days.

• Likud lawmakers reportedly told the Times of Israel that "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told them during their party meeting to vote against all candidates" today. This would leave just two candidates on the ballot, opposition Yesh Atid MK Karine Elharrar and Likud MK Tally Gotliv, who refused to withdraw.
• The Knessed nominates two members of the JSC, with with the seats traditionally split between the two sides of the aisle. If only two candidates remain on the ballot, lawmakers can vote either "for" or "against" them. Should the Knesset reject the candidates, it has to hold another election within 30 days.
• Netanyahu has been under pressure from some of his colleagues to defy convention and fill both seats on the JSC, while the matter became a bargaining chip in the ongoing talks between the coalition and opposition on the government's contentious judicial overhaul.
• The Jerusalem Post wrote that Netanyahu could not be sure if he could rally enough support from the ranks of his own coalition behind the nomination for an opposition candidate. The decision is made by secret ballot and a defeat would undermine the Prime Minister's position in his party and coalition.
• National Unity leader Benny Gantz threatened to walk out of the judicial overhaul negotiations brokered by President Isaac Herzog if Netanyahu follows through on his alleged plan to postpone the vote on JSC members. Gantz and Yesh Atid's Yair Lapid had both warned that they would quit talks if their candidate is not elected to the JSC.