Likud officials distance themselves from Meridor's attack on justice minister
'Reforms Friedmann championed were important, justified,' MK Erdan says. Eitan: Likud supported most of justice minister's initiatives, but Meridor has the right to think otherwise
A number of Likud officials were less than happy with returning party member Dan Meridor's attack on Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann's controversial initiatives to reform the justice system.
Meridor, a former justice and finance minister who served as Knesset member between 1984 and 2003, told reporters on Sunday that "the Kadima government failed miserably on two fronts, and each of these failures should have sent it packing. The first, and worse of the two, was the way the Second Lebanon War was handled. The second failure was the unprecedented attack on the judicial system."
Several Likud members backed Friedmann's initiatives, which included regulating and limiting the Supreme Court's legislative authority, placing restrictions on the right to appear before the High Court of Justice and changing the make-up of the judicial appointments committee.
"The reforms that Friedmann championed were important and justified," Likud Knesset Member Gilad Erdan told Ynet. "The justice system requires many changes and improvements. There is a lack of transparency and equality within the system, in addition to distortions that must be corrected.
"In recent years the High Court has dealt with issues that in my opinion are strictly under the government's jurisdiction. It is unfortunate that the personal dispute between Friedmann and Supreme Court President Dorit Beinish has taken the focus off the need for reforms within the justice system," he said.
MK Yuli Edelstein said, "The justice system is in need of reform, and I supported some of the initiatives, but Friedmann's approach was not always proper. The approach must change, but the reforms must continue."
Likud member Yuval Steinitz said he welcomed Meridor's return to the party, but added "on an ideological level I definitely see the need to limit judicial activism, albeit Friedmann's attitude toward the judges and the justice system in general was not always appropriate."
MK Michael Eitan, for his part, said that while Likud supported most of Friedmann's initiatives, he "accepts Meridor's right to think otherwise".
