As Judicial Plans Rocks Israel, Secret Talks Seek Compromise

While the mediation remains far from success, its existence, nevertheless, adds nuance to an otherwise toxic and emotional national discourse that many fear could devolve into political violence or even civil war.

The government’s supporters and opponents have accused each other of attempting a coup, amid fears on both sides that the future of Israel’s democracy is at stake. Critics of the government argue that the removal of judicial oversight over Parliament would pave the way for authoritarian rule by a majority that would run roughshod over the rights of minorities. The government’s supporters contend that Israel cannot be a true democracy without giving elected lawmakers primacy over unelected judges.

In public, both the government and the opposition have appeared largely intransigent. The government has pressed on with its proposals in Parliament, driving them quickly through parliamentary committees ahead of a binding vote in the coming weeks. Opposition leaders, including Yair Lapid, the centrist former prime minister, said on Monday that they would not negotiate for a compromise until the government enacted “a complete and genuine halt of the legislative process.”

But behind closed doors, discussions have been more constructive, if emotional, said Mr. Stern, the head of the Jewish People Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research group in Jerusalem.

He said he and nine other leading law professors had met privately and extensively with Mr. Rothman, the government lawmaker who is driving the overhaul’s passage through Parliament, and, to a lesser extent, with Mr. Levin, the justice minister. Other groups have also worked on separate proposals.

“On the professional level, I can tell you, it’s solvable,” Mr. Stern said.

“But the emotional level is, obviously, the most important one,” he added. “The feeling that, ‘I’m saving the country, and I’m the only one who can save the country’ — you hear this in the room. And it is not easy to negotiate on a professional level when you talk to people who are charged emotionally.”

Mr. Rothman’s office confirmed that he had participated in negotiations but declined to give more details. Mr. Levin’s office said it could not comment on specific meetings.