As the clock ticked down towards the early May deadline for the Knesset to approve the complex coalition agreement signed between Likud and Blue and White, the deal faced significant legal challenges, raising the prospect that Israel may be forced to hold yet another election in the summer.
A special Supreme Court panel of 11 justices, sitting as the High Court of Justice, convened to consider a number of petitions that sought to derail the agreement on two levels.
Some petitioners argued that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must be prevented from being assigned the task of forming the government due to the fact that he has been indicted on serious corruption charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust.
However, under Israeli law, a prime minister may remain in the job while criminal proceedings against him are being deliberated in the courts and until a final verdict is reached, including all levels of appeal. Netanyahu’s graft trial is set to begin on May 24 and the prime minister maintains his innocence on all charges, claiming he is the victim of a political witch hunt to topple him from power.
Other petitions urged the court to declare void the coalition agreement because it involves changing a number of Basic Laws- the closest Israel has to a constitution- including reducing the term of the next government to 3 years and limiting the powers of the Knesset during the first 6 months of the government.
The Movement for the Quality of Government in Israel lawyer Eliezer Shraga claimed the case against Netanyahu was “extremely grave,” saying that Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit and the lawyers for the Knesset and President Reuven Rivlin were “turning bribery into normative behavior” by looking the other way so that Netanyahu could form the next government.
However, the justices explicitly referred to the Knesset’s power of selecting a prime minister as being at the heart of the legislative branch’s authority.
High Court President Esther Hayut indicated the justices would reject the attempt to disqualify Netanyahu, saying that the arguments by the petitioners that the country’s rule of law would collapse were misplaced populism.
“This is an inappropriate claim, this is populism. A party cannot claim here that if their position is not accepted, that the whole fortress will fall,” said Hayut.
Attorney Michael Rabello, who represents the Likud, said that over a million Israelis had voted for Netanyahu with the knowledge he could be prime minister. “How can you say that this panel can replace the voters?” he asked the court. He also promised that Netanyahu would not interfere in the appointment of legal officials during the term of the next government.
Daphna Holtz Lechner, an attorney representing the petitioners, told the court that if Netanyahu is made head of the government “then what we see today will only be the promo. When he’s prime minister, this will be very dangerous.”
Ahead of the court proceedings, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit recommended the justices should not intervene.
“Despite the major difficulties, they are not grounds for judicial intervention, as this would mean that a majority of MKs would not be able to initiate forming a new government in Israel that Netanyahu heads.”
Regarding various sections of the coalition agreement, Mandelblit wrote, “certain arrangements in the coalition agreement raise major difficulties. That said, there are no grounds to disqualify the coalition agreement at this stage.”
Attorney Dafna Holtz Lechner, who represented some of the petitioners, criticized the attorney general’s response.
“I regret the opinion of the attorney general who thinks the coalition agreement should only be examined upon its implementation, in other words, after it is legislated. Such legislation will utterly change the principles of Basic Law: The Government for the sake of the personal interests of someone charged with criminal offenses, who is in a major conflict of interest.”
Likud figures made it clear that a fourth election, set to take place in August, would result if the justices disqualify Netanyahu as a candidate for prime minister or if the court cancels parts of the coalition agreement between the Likud and Blue and White.
Under such a scenario, they warned, the election would focus on the power of the judicial branch with the Netanyahu bloc insisting on an override clause granting the Knesset power to pass legislation over the objections of the High Court.
Coalition Chair, Likud MK Miki Zohar, predicted that if new elections were held “the public will give us the seats to pass the override clause and to overturn this scandalous ruling.”
Yesh Atid-Telem Chair Yair Lapid described the Likud threats as criminal.
“There has never before been a more belligerent, criminal and benighted threat directed at the Supreme Court by the ruling party.”
If the Knesset failed to submit 61 signatures by May 7 asking the president to assign the task of forming the government to one of the MKs, the last remaining option to prevent a fourth election would be recommending Netanyahu, and he will have another two weeks to form the government.
The Likud-Blue and White deal came about after Benny Gantz, who campaigned on a pledge not to serve in a Netanyahu government, agreed to a three-year power-sharing arrangement, citing the need for an emergency unity coalition to fight the coronavirus pandemic and to defend Israeli democracy. Netanyahu will serve as prime minister for 18 months followed by Gantz, who would then take over for another 18 months.
The deal led to the breakup of Blue and White, with Yesh Atid led by Yair Lapid and Telem, headed by former IDF chief of staff Moshe Ya’alon, splitting to form a separate faction.
Lapid accused Gantz of perpetrating “the worst act of fraud in the history of this country” by joining forces with Netanyahu, describing Gantz as “unfit to be prime minister.”
He also apologized to all those people who he convinced to vote for Benny Gantz and Blue and White.
“I didn’t believe that they would steal your vote and give it to Netanyahu, that they would use your vote to form the fifth Netanyahu government,” he said.
There was speculation that if Netanyahu was given a two-week period to form a government he may opt to scuttle the deal with Blue and White and go for a fourth election. The polls predict a comfortable victory for the Netanyahu bloc with the Likud winning 40 seats. The worst of the coronavirus appears to be behind us and by early May the country was taking additional steps to revive economic activity and reopen schools and kindergartens.
However Israel, along with many other countries, still faces unprecedented unemployment and a looming economic recession. Forcing Israelis to vote for the fourth time in 16 months would constitute a huge political gamble on Netanyahu’s part and would also jeopardize the annexation of parts of the West Bank, which he can implement in July, according to the deal struck with Blue and White.■