By Staff, Agencies

At a joint press conference Wednesday evening, the “Israeli” entity’s opposition leaders Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz declared they were freezing their participation in negotiations for the so-called “judicial reform”, after the entity’s prime minister attempted – and failed – to put off a crucial vote to elect Knesset members to the so-called “Judicial Selection Committee”.

Though Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts actually led to the opposition’s candidate being elected, and the coalition being left without a representative for now, Lapid and Gantz castigated Netanyahu’s very attempt to avoid staffing the key panel, and said they would not agree to negotiate so long as the committee remains unable to convene and carry out its duties.

The panel cannot meet until a second MK representative is chosen, and even then, “Likud’s” Yariv Levin, who as so-called “justice” minister chairs the committee, is reported to be threatening to block it from convening so long as his demands for radical changes to the process and curbing the courts’ powers are not met.

Lapid and Gantz said the committee’s inability to convene and oversee crucial appointments to the “Israeli” judiciary demonstrated a violation of commitments Netanyahu had made to the entity’s President Isaac Herzog as he shepherds the overhaul negotiations, and assailed his capitulation to extremist elements in his coalition.

According to both opposition leaders, Netanyahu made explicit promises to Herzog and the two political parties themselves that the so-called “Judicial Selection Committee” would be convened in its current format with an opposition representative, in order to ensure the ongoing dialogue under the auspices of Herzog’s office would continue.

The opposition parties accused Netanyahu of breaking his word, deepening mistrust and demonstrating he cannot deliver on his promises due to the pressure of hardliners in his coalition.

Netanyahu had attempted to delay the vote after facing intense pushback from hard-right elements from within his bloc over his desire to keep with tradition and allow the appointment of an opposition MK. He also faced a rebellion from a rogue Likud MK, Tally Gotliv, whose refusal to remove herself from the running, thus potentially skewing results, further complicated matters.

Following the comments by Gantz and Lapid, Netanyahu for his part denied that he had made any promises to Herzog, and denounced the opposition for halting the dialogue, accusing them of looking for an excuse to blow up the talks even after an opposition MK was elected to the committee as they had demanded.

Elharrar was elected with 58 votes in favor and 56 against, meaning at least four coalition MKs voted for her, while “Likud” candidate Gotliv who refused to stand down despite being ordered to do so by Netanyahu received just 15 votes in favor and 59 against.

The election of only a single MK to the committee meant it still cannot convene.

“Netanyahu today prevented the establishment of the committee, and put an end to the pretense that he wants dialogue,” Lapid declared following the vote.