Day 538 - Knesset passes judicial selection law, what now?

The Times of Israel Daily Briefing

The Times of Israel

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4.4 • 864 Ratings

🗓️ 27 March 2025

⏱️ 26 minutes

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Summary

Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Times of Israel founding editor David Horovitz joins host Jessica Steinberg for today's Daily Briefing.

Following the early morning passage of the highly controversial law that greatly increases political power and influence over the judicial appointments process in Israel, Horovitz discusses details of the measure, and the fact that it will only come into effect in the next Knesset, meaning after Israel’s next general elections, currently scheduled for October 2026.

Horovitz discusses why this measure is being taken now by the coalition government, and how the opposition parties and Israeli society are reacting to this measure that has been in the making since the right-wing government was elected into office in November 2022.

There have been waves of protests over the last ten days, with rallies calling for the return of the hostages and anti-government demonstrations in Jerusalem, and Horovitz looks at what's being said in those gatherings and if they have any effect on current politics.

He also speaks about the continuing protests in Gaza, reportedly against Hamas, although the terror group claims that the Gazans are protesting Israel's return to IDF strikes.

Please see today's ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

Knesset passes law greatly boosting political control over appointment of judges

‘Democracy isn’t in danger,’ Netanyahu tells Knesset in tirade against ‘deep state’

Happening now: The smooth, malevolent unraveling of Israel’s vulnerable democracy

Thousands protest outside Knesset ahead of final votes on controversial judicial bill

Hundreds in Gaza join rare protests against Hamas rule, call for an end to the war

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and ministers in the Knesset plenum during a vote on a bill to remake Israel's judicial appointments process, March 27, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, welcome to the Times of Israel's Daily Briefing. It is Thursday, March 27th, and I'm Jessica Steinberg. I'm speaking today with Times of Israel founding editor David Harvitz. Hi, David.
0:15.0	Hi, Jessica. Early this morning, Israel's coalition voted to change the makeup of the judicial selection committee
0:22.9	passing the highly controversial bill. Opposition, Knesset members left the plenum in protest
0:29.4	and then vowed to repeal the new law. We'll talk about what all of that means, the ongoing protests,
0:37.1	as well as, on a different front,
0:39.6	protests seemingly against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
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1:38.5	Okay, David.
1:47.5	So the legislation that has been in the works for months and months, that opposition MKs, for instance, they actually led to October 7th, the protest against it, that is, finally passed, and
1:56.0	it was done early this morning. You, of course, wrote about it in an op-ed yesterday, and now that this
2:05.0	moment is here, I want to hear what you're thinking about. Okay, so first of all, the legislation
2:10.1	has been in the works since basically the coalition took office, which is more than two years
2:16.3	ago. But it's not the exact same legislation, and I'll clarify that in a second.
2:21.2	And in terms of opposition MPs do not say that October 7th happened because of this,
2:29.2	but they in common with the then-defense minister, former defense minister,
2:33.2	Yov Gallant, argue that division over all the package of judicial overhaul,
	...

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