The Lapid Outline reminds me of two things, neither of them good.

Lapid has sort-of answered the call to offer his counterproposals to the coalition’s bills for judicial reform. He calls it: The Lapid Outline, and he posted it on his Facebook page. Let me translate it for you below.

The Lapid Outline:

1. Total cessation of the legislative process for 60 days before presenting the bill for the first reading in the Knesset.
2. Establishment of a professional team under the leadership of the president that will formulate a position paper and table of agreements and disagreements.
3. Consultation with the Governor of the Bank of Israel, the Chief of Staff, leaders in security and finance.
4. Responses to the position paper from representatives of the justice system, the Supreme Court president, former judges and the Attorney General.
5. Separate sessions with representatives of the coalition and the opposition for their responses to the team recommendations.
6. Presenting the final proposal to the Israeli public.
7. Coalition and opposition representatives engage in negotiations mediated by the president.

What this reminds me of:

1. Negotiations with the Palestinian Arabs. Well, it is not an exact parallel with the Lapid Outline, but it vaguely reminds me of that. Something about Israel having to stop building homes in Judea and Samaria in order for the Palestinian Arab leadership to be (perhaps) willing to talk with us.Why do they seem vaguely similar to me? Because one side is telling the other side: “You have to stop everything and let us engage in never-ending consultations, drafting of position papers and proposals and more consultations and negotiations and all we have to do is protest.”And protest. And protest. And accuse you of apartheid (the Palestinian Arabs) or of destroying democracy (Lapid). And then when you show signs of being willing to compromise, we just don’t come to the table.
2. The Lapid Instant Maritime Deal with Lebanon/Hizbullah. To be precise, Lapid is insisting that the current coalition do what he did not do. He did not stop the negotiations for 60 days before finalizing the agreement. He did not establish a professional team under the leadership of the president or anyone else who would devise a position paper showing the benefits and costs of the deal. If he consulted with professionals and leaders from various bodies, he did not let us, the people, know about it. He did not present the final proposal to the Israeli public — or even to the democratically elected Knesset whose job it is to represent the Israeli public He just pushed it through a month before the elections with no time for the public to have any say in the matter.There is no law prohibiting what Lapid did here because the area in question was disputed waters and not Israeli sovereign waters. At the same time, the public is left with the sense that there was insufficient examination of the repercussions for Israel of this deal, something that cannot now be walked back. It’s a fait accompli. Is this an example of the democratic procedures that Lapid says he wants to protect? Democracy for me– but not for thee?

Why is this outline even required?

Since when does legislation proposed by a democratically elected government have to be put on hold because the opposition does not like the bill?

Since when does the president have to mediate (babysit) elected representatives because the opposition doesn’t think it can get its way?

What Lapid is asking of the president is what happens in the committees that debate bills after the first reading — The first reading merely sends the bill to the relevant committee that then thrashes it out paragraph by paragraph, hearing from professionals who can weigh in on the issues, and reworking the bill, preparing it for the second and third readings. It is clear that no bill emerges from committee debates in the same form it was when it went into committee.

So essentially what Lapid is asking for is that the work of the committee be carried out under the supervision of the president outside the Knesset. How demeaning is that!

Feature Image Credit: Avi Ohayon / Government Press Office, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons