How anti-Netanyahu legislation could be passed; minority govt formed

The center-left and Arab parties have more MKs than the right-wing bloc, 62 to 58, so Gantz would seemingly be in pole position to get the first chance to form a government.

By JEREMY SHARON
Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz gestures as he stands next to his party co-leader Moshe Yaalon after speaking to supporters following the announcement of exit polls in Israel's election at the party's headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel March 3, 2020 (photo credit: REUTERS/CORINNA KERN)
Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz gestures as he stands next to his party co-leader Moshe Yaalon after speaking to supporters following the announcement of exit polls in Israel's election at the party's headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel March 3, 2020
(photo credit: REUTERS/CORINNA KERN)
With Blue and White’s primary political direction at present heading toward a minority government supported externally by the Joint List of Arab parties, or parts of it, how exactly would such a coalition be put together and take office?
To start with, President Reuven Rivlin would have to formally task Blue and White leader MK Benny Gantz with forming a new government, which can happen if more MKs recommend Gantz to establish a government than those recommending Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The center-left and Arab parties have more MKs than the right-wing bloc – 62 to 58 – and so with the agreement of all those parties, Gantz would seemingly be in pole position to get the first chance to form a government.
The three MKS from the hardline Balad Party, a constituent of the Joint List, are disinclined to recommend Gantz to Rivlin – but even without them, Gantz would still have 59 recommendations to Netanyahu’s 58.
Gantz does not, however, want to include any of the Arab parties of the Joint List in his government – and appoint its MKs as ministers – meaning there is no way for him to form a majority government comprising 61 MKs.
What the Blue and White leader seeks to do is to form a minority government with the 47 MKs in his potential bloc – 33 of his own party together with seven each of Labor-Meretz-Gesher and Yisrael Beytenu – supported externally by the Joint List’s 15, to reach 62.
For this to happen, Gantz would need 59 votes in favor of his minority government, including at least 12 of the 15 Joint List MKs, in a confidence motion put to a vote in the Knesset plenum in order to establish the government.
It is unclear how Balad would vote in such a situation, and the party MKs could abstain or remove themselves from the confidence motion vote.
But besides Balad, Gantz has a problem closer to home, since two of his MKs, Zvi Hauser and Yoaz Hendel, vehemently oppose forming a minority government with the support of the Joint List. Chili Tropper, another Blue and White MK, also opposes this option.
Without Balad, Hauser and Hendel, Gantz would not have the 59 votes he needs to overcome the right-wing’s 58 votes in order to form a government.
Even if a minority government could be formed, it would likely face legal challenges to the Supreme Court since no minority government has ever been formed at the outset of a Knesset term, although they have come about after Knesset factions have quit from existing governments.
Absent the ability to form a minority government, Blue and White has also talked of the possibility of passing legislation before a government is formed to prohibit an MK who is indicted or on trial from forming a government.
Such legislation is aimed at Netanyahu, whose trial on corruption charges is scheduled to begin next week.
This kind of maneuver is tricky and time consuming, and isn’t guaranteed to gain majority support.
First, it would require the Speaker of the Knesset to grant special permission to vote on legislation before a government is formed.
Since the current speaker is Likud MK Yuli Edelstein who stridently opposes such efforts, Blue and White would need to replace him. This can only be done with a majority of 61 MKs in the Knesset, all of whom would need to request a vote to replace the speaker.
This could be done as soon as the new Knesset is sworn in with a vote in the Knesset plenum requiring 61 MKs to vote in favor of a new speaker.
Once the legislation is brought to the Knesset plenum and approved in a preliminary vote, the Arrangements Committee would then need to be convened and vote on allowing Knesset committees to be established, something not usually done before a government is formed.
The Arrangements Committee would then need to vote to send the proposed legislation to the committee selected to review it.
The bill would then proceed along the normal legislative process, including a review by the chosen committee, a first reading in the plenum, a return to committee for further examination and then the second and third readings in the plenum.
The legislation might enjoy support from Balad given its antipathy for Netanyahu, although the position of Hauser and Hendel on such legislation remains unclear.
Spokespersons for both MKs told The Jerusalem Post that they had not yet addressed this issue.