In a statement obtained by GLM this Tuesday, Mickey Levy, current president of the Knesset (Parliament), assured that he received the request from 64 of the 120 legislators, so “the vote will take place next Monday, December 12 at 16:00” local time (14:00 GMT).
That date marked the deadline for Netanyahu, who won the last Israeli elections, to form a new Executive.
However, the former prime minister, who has already ruled Israel for a total of 15 years, is expected to ask for an extension of that term, while paving the way for the coalition pacts he made with the supremacist and anti-Arab Itamar Ben Gvir, the far-right Bezalel Smotrich and the homophobic and ultra-religious Avi Maoz.
The election of a new speaker of Parliament, coming from the Netanyahu-supporting bloc, is necessary for the right-religious coalition to take office, as several of the expected ministerial appointments and compromises with incoming coalition parties require changes in current legislation.
Levy regretted that “the unusual request that the election of the speaker of the Knesset coincide with the inauguration date of the incoming government, has the objective of promoting legislation that allows people convicted and sentenced to probation to serve as ministers” .
The ultra-Orthodox leader of the Shas party, Aryeh Deri, who aspires to serve as Minister of Health and Interior, has a conviction for tax fraud.
“Despite the enormous pain that it causes me to know that this is the intention of the incoming coalition, I will respect the will of the electorate,” said Levy, a member of the centrist Yesh Atid party, led by outgoing Prime Minister Yair Lapid.
For its part, Netanyahu’s party, Likud, confirmed that all the factions that make up its coalition – Smotrich’s Religious Zionism, Ben Gvir’s Jewish Power, Maoz’s Noam and the ultra-orthodox parties Shas and United Torah Judaism – support the replacement. de Levy by one of their own.
On the other hand, the new coalition is expected to approve the so-called annulment clause, which would allow Knesset members to re-enact legislation annulled by the Supreme Court of Justice. Among other things, this clause could prevent any legal challenge to Deri’s ministerial appointment.
Critics have warned that an annulment clause would seriously alter the separation of judicial and legislative powers, while the extremism of the incoming executive, the most right-wing and religious in Israel’s history, has sparked fear and criticism at home and abroad. Foreign.
Under the coalition agreements, Ben Givir would be in charge of a new and strengthened Ministry of National Security and Smotrich of the all-important Finance Ministry, with broad powers in the Defense Ministry to manage Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Meanwhile, Maoz would be deputy minister with power over a new entity to promote the country’s Jewish identity and control of educational programs outside the public education system.