MK Simcha Rotman, chairman of the Constitution Committee, spoke today (Friday) with Nissim Mashal on his program on 103FM - after the interview with Avichai Mandelblit, the former Attorney General, last night on the program 'Uvda', and responded sharply to the remarks.
In an interview with Ilana Dayan, Mandelblit attacked the reform of the judicial system led by Justice Minister Yariv Levin, claiming: "The leaders of the legal reform are leading to a regime of oppression.".
At the beginning of the conversation, Rothman attacked: "Nissim, thank you very much. Shabbat Shalom. It was very pleasant to talk to you. I have to tell you - be ashamed, just be ashamed. First, get back to yourself and then I'll continue, I don't have a conversation when you're calling someone names. You know what? I'm willing to continue the conversation on one condition - tell me about a time in history when someone made a threat against a political move from the left, and you brought up the leftist and told him: 'Look where you're dragging the country.' Either get back to yourself or Shabbat Shalom.
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""You're reading me threats of blood and murder in the streets, Mandelblit should be put in jail for something like that - and you're asking me if I'm not ashamed.".
Rothman continued: "A person who talks about reforming the legal system and uses the terminology of 'blood in the streets' is an irresponsible person who calls for rebellion, who incites, and the fact that this person was the Attorney General is a disgrace. If there is justification for promoting reform and for a retired Aharon Barak to talk about a 'firing squad' and a retired Attorney General to talk about 'blood in the streets', when what we are doing here is promoting a legal system, separation of powers and restoring sovereignty to the people.
""Do I need to explain myself? Do you understand what you are doing? Instead of bringing up now, starting today for months as you have always done in the media, every person who opposes the smallest comma in my reform and before he opens his mouth you ask him: 'Do you condemn violence and blood in the streets,' you won't allow him to speak a single word before you thread him through a chain of condemnations, instead you bring me up and ask me what I do? Have you no shame?"'
The chairman of the Constitution Committee continued his attack: "It seems logical to you that you bring up a member of Knesset who convenes a committee for democratic debates in the Knesset, and you quote him a person who threatens him with 'blood in the streets' because he brings a legislative amendment, and instead of doing an interview with him as you well know, how you deal with threats of incitement and violence - you ask him if he is not ashamed. So I ask you - if you are not ashamed.".
""I say again - you are welcome if you want, before or after the broadcast, or at some point in the future, to show me once in your history as a broadcaster or in any field you have worked in, that after someone from the left received words and threats about 'blood in the streets' and incitement like I receive, you brought that person up and told him, 'Look what you're doing.' Can you give examples? Everything is open.
""I tell you responsibly as someone who lives in the State of Israel - never, ever has it happened that, against incitement and threats from the right, you brought up someone from the left and demanded that he explain 'why you deserve this.' It's simply unbelievable.".
Regarding the attempts to mediate with President Herzog on the reform issue, Rothman said: "You can always tell any story from any part you want, everything is fine. The president, at least according to the publications, turned to the President of the Supreme Court and Minister Levin and told them, 'Let's talk.' I also turned to the President and said, 'Let's talk.' The President of the Supreme Court's answer was: 'No, I'm setting ultimatums as if I were the last opposition member who bargains for hours of committee discussion. If you want to sit with me and talk, I'm setting conditions.' We've been discussing this reform for almost a month, there hasn't been a single vote yet. This demand, which I find amazing, I criticize and am ready to do again if you want.".
He said, "I am not aware of Herzog's request to me to halt the committee's deliberations for two weeks. If there is such an official request, I am the last one to disrespect the President of the State. I will certainly treat the President of the State and anyone who addresses me with respect. I do say that since this request from the President did not come in a vacuum, it came after the Speaker set a condition for halting the committee's deliberations. Since my statement and the Minister of Justice's statement were that we are willing to sit down and talk to anyone without preconditions, halting the deliberations for two weeks does not correspond to a statement without preconditions.".
Rothman was asked whether he sets conditions for the president - and said: "On the contrary, I do not set conditions. Despite the statements, in my opinion, the terrible and appalling ones of former and current senior officials in the judicial system, if the president of the state calls me or anyone else to come and talk to them, I do not make calculations and when the president calls, I come.".
""I am sure that the president of the state will not do this for a very simple reason. He has many years in his past as a skilled politician, and he knows that a major achievement for any opposition is to postpone hearings. This is how an opposition works. He understands that this demand from the president of the Supreme Court is not a demand from the president of the Supreme Court in a democratic country, it is a demand from the opposition. There is no justification for such a demand. Come on, explain to me what is so scary about the hearings in the Constitution Committee.".
Rothman was asked about the composition of the Judicial Appointments Committee and denied that it was an aid to Netanyahu: "Since I'm talking about changing the composition of the Judicial Appointments Committee for about a decade, and about the problems in the process, then either I assumed 10 years ago when I started talking about changing the selection of judges that one day Netanyahu would be and I would be the chairman of the Constitutional Committee, or there is simply a difficult and serious problem in selecting judges in Israel and we are doing it because that's how we do it in a democratic country.".
To the claim that he would not be able to prevent a situation in which judges would tip the scales in Netanyahu's appeal, he replied: "Of course I can. I am not building a system in which a judge is appointed to the Supreme Court for a certain term, I am building a system in which the appointment of a judge will be a set-it-and-forget-it method, after a public hearing in the Constitution Committee in which all representatives of the opposition and the coalition will be able to ask him questions. This process in itself is a very large filtering effect on the appointment of unworthy candidates, because it is subject to a public hearing. I am creating this mechanism so that those people will have tremendous independence, they will be appointed and it will be impossible to fire them. I am defending the independence of the judicial system. Today it is not independent.".
