Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Monday evening removed his resignation letter from the government shortly before it was set to come into effect, in order to enable negotiations for a deal that would obviate his return to the Knesset. The negotiators were Coalition Whip MK Ofir Katz (Likud), Otzma Yehudit chairman MK Itamar Ben-Gvir and Otzma Yehudit MK Almog Cohen.
Most ministers in Israel’s governing system serve simultaneously as ministers and Members of Knesset. However, in what is known as the “Norwegian Law,” a minister may resign his or her position as Members of Knesset and serve only as a minister, and is then the minister is replaced in the Knesset by the next candidate on the party list. However, if the minister resigns his position in government, he returns to the Knesset, and pushes out the last MK on the list.
Otzma Yehudit former minister Amichai Eliyahu, who quit the Knesset at the start of his tenure, returned to the Knesset after his resignation from the government. He resigned alongside the rest of his party in opposition to the ongoing hostage deal.
Otzma Yehudit and Smotrich’s party, R(RZP), ran in the last election on a joint slate but split into separate factions after the election. However, as per the Norwegian Law, Eliyahu’s return to the Knesset pushed out the last member on the joint list – RZP’s Tzvi Sukkot. In order to regain the lost MK, Smotrich, who also resigned as an MK in the beginning of his term, would have been forced to resign from the government in order to return to the Knesset. This would have pushed out Otzma Yehudit MK Yizhak Kroyzer. Smotrich would then have been reappointed as finance minister, and would have served as an MK and minister simultaneously.
"The coalition is interested in keeping Kroyzer in the Knesset since he is a member of the influential judicial selection committee. If he leaves, the Knesset will hold a confidential vote to appoint a new MK, but the coalition may not win such a vote."
Negotiations continue
Smotrich filed his resignation letter on Saturday evening. The letter was set to come into effect 48 hours later, on Monday evening, but Smotrich pulled the letter at the last minute in order to enable the negotiations to continue.
Smotrich said that he was willing to pull his resignation letter if Kroyzer committed to voting with the coalition, since this would retain the pro-coalition vote without Smotrich having to return to the Knesset. However, instead of Kroyzer, Ben-Gvir proposed that a different MK, Almog Cohen, who broke with the party last year over disputes with Ben-Gvir, serve as the coalition’s “guarantee” vote.