With the business of politics very much back on the agenda following the ceasefire with Gaza, Yesh Atid has said it will advance legislation this week to curtail Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reign as premier.
The party stated over the weekend that this week it will seek an expedited legislative process for two bills, one limiting a prime minister to two terms in office and the other preventing an MK under indictment from forming a government.
Yesh Atid will be able to exempt the bills from the initial step of “presenting legislation” by dint of its control of the Knesset arrangements committee, headed by party MK Karin Elharar.
The chances of success for the bill stopping an MK under indictment from forming a government appear extremely thin, as it does not have the backing of Yamina or Ra’am and therefore has no majority in the Knesset.
The prime ministerial term limits bill would only come into effect in two elections, meaning that should no government be formed and new elections held in October, Netanyahu would still be able to form a coalition even if the legislation is approved during the current Knesset.
Such a bill is believed to have a slightly higher chance of approval than the bill barring MKs under indictment from forming a government, with Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope Party said to be supportive. However, securing a majority would nevertheless be tough.
“We have never halted our desire to fight corruption, and now that the fighting has stopped the time has come to deal with this,” said Elharar in announcing the advancement of these bills.
“The citizens of the State of Israel deserve clean and moral leadership which deals with the good of the public and not the preservation of power. Anyone committed to change understands that there is no other way.”
Meanwhile, negotiations for the formation of a government will resume, with Yesh Atid and its chairman Yair Lapid still seeking to oust Netanyahu, but with just 12 days left to do so.
Although Yamina leader Naftali Bennett was said to have nixed any plan to form a government backed by the Islamist Ra’am (United Arab List) Party during the conflict in Gaza, Yamina sources are now being quoted as saying that this option might be possible again.
According to Channel 13 News, Yamina officials have said to the Likud that unless an attractive offer is made in the next few days they will back a government with the anti-Netanyahu block.
The official Yamina Party Twitter account quickly denied the report, attributing the story to “sources representing themselves,” and calling it “fake news.”
A Yamina party source told The Jerusalem Post that such speculation was “not serious.”
“At the moment Yamina isn’t there. If there was space in the public consciousness of the Yamina electorate for such a government at one point it isn’t there anymore,” although the source said that there was always a possibility that this might change as fifth elections inch closer.
Even were Bennett to return to negotiations with Yesh Atid and the “change bloc,” it is reported that the terms offered to him would be less than what they were previously.
KAN reported that Bennett would be offered the prime ministerial rotation second after Lapid, not first as was previously the case.
On Saturday night, Blue and White leader and Defense Minister MK Benny Gantz ruled out joining a government led by Netanyahu again, following speculation that he may again seek to form such a coalition.
Asked during a Channel 12 interview if “there is still a chance you will make a government with him [Netanyahu] despite everything,” Gantz replied “No.”
The Blue and White leader continued: “This has ended. I received offers in the past… Before last week there were many offers which I rejected… I have no intention to go in that direction again. The country needs something new.”