Coalition in crisis - Judicial inquiry commission fails to pass vote

Gantz to Netanyahu: 'Someone who wants to harm democracy instead of saving lives, is hurting Israel's citizens and I will not allow it.'

By YONAH JEREMY BOB
NETANYAHU AND Gantz – can they put their animosity aside and serve the public? (photo credit: CORINNA KERN AMIR COHEN REUTERS)
NETANYAHU AND Gantz – can they put their animosity aside and serve the public?
(photo credit: CORINNA KERN AMIR COHEN REUTERS)
The coalition of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz seemed on the verge of collapse on Wednesday as the Knesset voted on a controversial initiative to establish a parliamentary commission of inquiry into judicial conflicts of interest.
The vote, initiated by Yamina MK Bezalel Smotrich to stop conflicts of interest among Supreme Court Justices, fell in a Knesset vote 54 to 43.
Tensions increased earlier in the day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the Likud would vote in favor of establishing the parliamentary commission. In response, Gantz’s Blue and White Party said that Likud’s support of the move was a “declaration of war against Israeli democracy.”
Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, number two in Blue and White, said that the commission of inquiry was a “black flag” and a red line for the party that it would not allow to be crossed, according to Kan News.
Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn said that he was “ashamed of the Likud for joining with Yamina and ashamed of Prime Minister Netanyahu for ordering the Likud to support the initiative.”
Gantz, who is in isolation after coming into contact with a coronavirus carrier, said that “instead of taking care of the unemployed and the small business owners, the Likud wants to interrogate the judges... Someone who wants to harm democracy instead of saving lives is hurting Israel’s citizens, and I will not allow it.”
The conflicts of interest issue for justices was elevated by a series of exposes in May by Kalman Liebskind in The Jerusalem Post’s sister Hebrew language newspaper, Maariv.
Liebskind disclosed that Supreme Court President Esther Hayut and Justice Menachem Mazuz may have dealt with issues implicating potential conflicts without flagging the issue to the parties involved.
There have also been past similar exposes about Justice Anat Baron and other judges. But the issue captured greater headlines in May since at the time Hayut and the High Court were deciding legal issues relating to the Judicial Selection Committee on which three justices sit and compete for influence.
None of the conflicts for which the justices had been attacked were of the black and white variety, meaning involving close family members, which the law explicitly prohibits and where a violation could lead to being forced off the court.
Rather, they often involved former law clerks of the justices or institutions which family members had some connection to, but were not necessarily being directly impacted by in the case.
For years, various groups trying to perform oversight on the judicial branch had demanded a range of greater transparency measures, including publication of conflicts of interest.
In late June, the Supreme Court publicized a list of conflicts of interests for each of the court’s justices. Publication of the list came after the release of multiple exposes of justices allegedly failing to properly observe conflict rules, which require recusing themselves from a case if someone close to them is involved.
On Tuesday morning, Netanyahu convened a meeting of his close associates and decided that Likud would support the establishment of the inquiry commission. The decision was viewed by Blue and White as another attempt by the prime minister, whose bribery trial resumes on July 19, to undermine the judiciary.
In order to save face, Likud had initially planned to vote in favor and have Shas and United Torah Judaism vote against it so that the initiative would fail to pass. The haredi parties however refused to vote against the commission to avoid coming under criticism from haredi right-wing voters.