Opposition Freezes Judicial Overhaul Talks, Coalition Fractures Deepen

Opposition leaders Yesh Atid's Yair Lapid and National Unity's Benny Gantz confirmed that they were putting their participation in talks on the government's judicial overhaul on hold in the wake of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's failed attempt to delay the election of two Knesset representatives to the Judicial Selection Committee. The two opposition leaders said that negotiations will remain frozen until the JSC convenes.

• During a joint press briefing yesterday, Lapid and Gantz criticised Netanyahu for bowing to the pressure from hardliners from his own coalition, who were pushing for depriving the opposition of representation in the judicial selection panel unless it agrees to major concessions in the judicial overhaul talks.
• Coalition hardliners have also been left disgruntled with the outcome of yesterday's vote, as Netanyahu's plan backfired leading to the election of an opposition candidate to the JSC, while the only opposition candidate lost by a wide margin. This came as several coalition lawmakers defected, including the candidate herself, who defied the Prime Minister's order to pull out of the race.
• Anonymous Likud moderates told local media that "Netanyahu knew that [the opposition candidate] would be chosen and wasn’t surprised by the result," adding that the defectors "saved" the Prime Minister from another political crisis, which could come if the opposition definitely withdrew from the judicial overhaul negotiations.
• There is risk that Justice Minister Yariv Levin will still try to block the JSC from convening after the remaining vacancy is filled if his demands for radical reforms of the judiciary are not met. This could derail talks with the opposition, exacerbating the country's political crisis. Meanwhile, yesterday's vote demonstrated Netanyahu's lack of control over his MPs and undermined his credibility in the eyes of his radical allies.
• Domestic political uncertainty threatens to increase Israel's exposure to external geopolitical risks amid cyclical flare-up in Gaza violence and a growing nuclear threat posed by Iran, which led Israeli officials to threaten unilateral pre-emptive strikes. In the midst of the judicial overhaul protests earlier this year, a growing number of IDF reservists protested by refusing to show up for duty.