by Hillel Fendel
With less than two days to go before the new government is sworn in this Thursday, its designated head, Binyamin Netanyahu, still has plenty of work ahead of him before it can happen.
Among his difficult tasks will be to appoint the Foreign Minister, the Knesset Speaker, and Minister of Justice, and to deal with the controversies generated by recent remarks made by MKs of the Religious-Zionist party.
Anti-LGBTQ!?
Orit Strook, for instance, who is slated to become the Minister for National Missions, is being attacked for having said that no doctor should have to perform medical procedures that are against his or her religious beliefs. Though she was clearly referring to sex-change operations and the like, she has been widely and ridiculously accused of threatening to withhold medical treatment from homosexuals.
Regarding the aforementioned three positions, each of them has several candidates in Netanyahu's Likud party, all of whom see themselves as the absolute best choice. Whatever three decisions the about-to-be Prime Minister makes, he will gain at most three friends and allies – and will likely lose several more.
Knesset Speaker
Temporary Speaker Yariv Levine is expected to submit his resignation Tuesday afternoon or evening, so that the 48 hours required before it takes effect will end just in time for him to be sworn in as a minister together with the new government. Levine is almost certain to assume the post of Minister of Justice – unless Netanyahu caves to the pressures of influential MK Dudi Amsalem, who is basically demanding to be named either Justice Minister or Knesset Speaker. Amsalem said last week that if he receives neither, he'll remain a simple Knesset Member – one who will apparently be an active member of the internal party opposition to Netanyahu.
Levine is expected to take an aggressive approach in instituting judicial system reforms, to the delight of nationalist elements and the chagrin of Netanyahu himself.
Also in the fray for Knesset Speaker are MKs Micky Zohar, Amir Ohana, and Ophir Akunis.
Foreign Minister and Others
Leading names being considered for Foreign Minister are longtime Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz and former Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer. Netanyahu must also decide how to distribute several other ministerial posts, including Transportation, Education, and Environment, among his Likud party colleagues.
Controversial Bill Passes
Early Tuesday morning, after a filibuster by the outgoing government and soon-to-be opposition, a controversial bill was passed – one that is essential for the fulfillment of the coalition agreements with the Shas and Religious-Zionism parties. The new law stipulates that one who was found guilty of a crime but was not sentenced to prison, may serve as a Cabinet minister. This will enable Shas party leader Aryeh Deri, who was found guilty of tax offenses, to become a minister in the new government. He will serve as both Interior Minister and Health Minister for the first two years of the incoming government's term, before taking over as Finance Minister from Betzalel Smotrich, who will then take on a different ministerial position.
Shortly after the bill was passed, Supreme Court Chief Justice Esther Chayot announced that a special 11-justice panel would determine next week whether Deri may serve as a minister. Her decision followed the filing of several civil suits against Deri's appointment, which led to the issuance by Justice Yitzchak Amit of restraining orders. While Amit stopped short of forbidding Deri to be sworn in this week, his ruling paved the way for Chayot's decision – which could potentially lead to the immediate end of Deri's ministerial term. This is not widely held to be likely, however; see below.
Many on the left have criticized the law in having been specifically tailored to enable Deri to become a minister. Others have pointed out, however, that the new law is simply setting the same standards for a Cabinet minister as are currently the norm for Knesset Members. They explain that if a citizen may serve as an MK after having been convicted of a crime without having been sentenced to jail time, it is logical that he or she may also serve as a Cabinet minister.
Clause 6a of "Basic Law: The Knesset" states:
"Every Israeli citizen [over] age 21 may be elected to the Knesset – unless a court has stripped him of this right, or he has been sentenced, in a final ruling, to prison for more than three months and on the date of submitting [his candidacy] seven years have not yet passed from the day he was released from prison – or if he was convicted of a severe terrorism or security crime, and was sentenced to more than seven years in prison and 14 years have not yet passed from the day of his release from prison…"
It has also been noted that almost every new government in recent decades has begun its term with legislation specifically geared to its coalition needs.
Two Ministers in Defense Ministry
The law passed this morning also allows for two ministers to serve in the same ministry. This means that Smotrich, head of the Religious-Zionism party and Finance Minister-designate, will also serve as a minister in the Defense Ministry. Some of the Defense Minister's traditional areas of responsibility, such as the IDF Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria, will be handed over to Smotrich.
The law stipulates that the second minister in the ministry will be "responsible for the areas of activity that were assigned to him" – but that he will actually be subservient to the original minister. Exactly how this will play out between Smotrich and Yoav Gallant of the Likud, who is expected to be named Minister of Defense, is not yet clear, of course.
Among Smotrich's new responsibilities will be the appointing of the IDF Chief Rabbi. Outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kokhavi is not happy with the transfer of this and other areas to Smotrich, and made a somewhat surprising phone call to Netanyahu to register his protest. This prompted Smotrich and his political ally Itamar Ben-Gvir to protest what they called Kokhavi's "politicization" of the IDF. They accused him of seeking to ensure his political future, and Smotrich opined as a result that IDF Chiefs of Staff must be required to "cool off" for ten years before running for public office. At present, the cooling-off period is only three years.
The coming two days of tension and strife for Binyamin Netanyahu will hopefully end with a nationalist government for the State of Israel.