Prolonging the political crisis - analysis

What happened to the May 7 deadline that we have been talking about for weeks and is approaching this Thursday?

By GIL HOFFMAN
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz sign a unity government agreement (photo credit: Courtesy)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz sign a unity government agreement
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Mark your calendars for Monday, May 25.
That is the latest date among a seemingly never-ending list of deadlines for forming a long-awaited new government.
What happened to the May 7 deadline that we have been talking about for weeks and is approaching this Thursday?
It was not the opposition MKs in the Knesset who filed close to 10,000 amendments, making that deadline no longer matter. The opposition agreed to back down, making the passing of the bills required to form a government by Thursday nearly inevitable.
Rather, it was the 11 judges next door in the Supreme Court who provided the real opposition.
Yair Lapid and Moshe Ya'alon pale in comparison after watching the likes of Esther Hayut and Meni Mazuz in nine hours of deliberations on Monday.
The judges made Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz look like amateurs for submitting a coalition agreement with so many holes and hints that could not possibly stand up in court.
While in Sunday's hearing on whether Netanyahu can form a government, the left-wing judges were hard on Netanyahu's lawyer and the right-wing judges challenged the lawyers who petitioned against Netanyahu, in Monday's deliberations on the coalition deal, all 11 united against it and tore it to shreds.
They sent lawyers for Likud and Blue and White back to do their homework, remove obviously unjustifiable clauses and take basic steps like submitting guidelines for the government before it can be sworn in.
As parents around the world have learned over the past several weeks of distance learning, homework takes time.
So barring unexpected additional intervention by the court, the bills will pass this Thursday, which will enable Blue and White to sign the paper asking President Reuven Rivlin to give Netanyahu a two-week mandate to form the government.
But as the judges pointed out on Monday, those two weeks do not start immediately. Rivlin has 48 hours to check the minimum 61 signatures on that piece of paper and make sure no MK signed under duress or was bribed.  Sources close to Rivlin said on Monday night that Fridays and Saturdays are not counted either.
Rivlin will only have to officially give Netanyahu the two-week mandate next Monday at 11:59 p.m. That will make Monday May 25 the next big day.
During those two weeks, the coalition agreements will be fixed, the guidelines will be written, the deals with other parties will be made and ministers will finally be appointed.
Or Netanyahu could decide not to form a government with Gantz, initiate an election and start the entire process all over again.
If that happens, the next deadline will be another Election Day at the end of August. After that, there will still be many more deadlines ahead.