Opposition leader Yair Lapid on Monday claimed that the government is about to “annul democracy” if the bills advancing the judicial reform are passed on Monday evening.

Speaking at a Yesh Atid party meeting, Lapid said: “Tonight the State of Israel will take the first step towards becoming a non-democratic state. The government is bringing two laws for a vote in a first reading for the nullification of democracy in Israel.”

“The coalition parties have realized that if Israel stops being a democracy, they can pass laws of religious coercion, they can annex territories and they can distribute budgets to themselves without anyone getting in their way,” Lapid incited.

Lapid continued by calling Justice Minister Yariv Levin and the chairman of the Knesset’s Constitution and Law Committee Simcha Rothman “unparalleled extremists” who are leading Israel into an “economic disaster, a security disaster, and above all, a disaster in the unity of Am Yisrael.”

Lapid promised to continue to work against the reforms. “We don’t plan on giving up,” he warned.

On Sunday evening, Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich accused Lapid of wanting to lead Israel into a civil war.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)