ENHANCE - 1st Quarter 2023

Feature
Robin Lane
A controversial start for Israel’s
new government
The results of Israel’s
November election were
hailed as a victory for
Benjamin Netanyahu, whose
right-wing bloc secured 64 of
the 120 Knesset seats.
But a surprise in the results was
the failure of two left-wing parties,
Meretz and Balad, to cross the
electoral threshold and secure
any seats when they would have
won six seats if they had merged
with other left-wing parties. Thus,
Netanyahu with President Herzog and the new government cabinet
failures among the opposition
seem to have handed victory to
Netanyahu’s bloc.
Since the election there has
been a long and tortuous period
of negotiations between the
victorious coalition parties, with
their leaders vying for important
ministerial positions. Leaders
of the two Religious Zionism
parties have been particularly
demanding, making Netanyahu’s
life very difficult. Itamar Ben-Gvir
was most prominent and caused
concern internationally, as well as
in Israel. Particularly controversial
is the proposal to add a Supreme
Court override clause to current
laws, removing the court’s ability
to ‘strike down’ any new laws
agreed by the Knesset.
Ben-Gvir demanded a veto in the
Knesset Constitution, Law and
Justice Committee – something
opposed by Netanyahu’s Likud
Party. He also sought oversight
of the police regarding criminal
prosecutions and policy on
investigations. Additionally,
he wanted to revise the rules of
engagement for both the IDF
and the police, as well as giving
soldiers and police officers
immunity for action taken during
terrorist attacks.
Concerns include him being
considered too radical in his
youth to join the IDF, and a 2007
conviction on charges of racist
incitement against Arabs and
support for Kach, which Israelis
view as a Jewish terrorist group.
He has since distanced himself
from Kach, claiming to have
changed his views.
In contrast to Itamar Ben-Gvir,
Aryeh Deri is a veteran politician
and considered to be reliable as
Netanyahu’s right-hand man.
Yet even he requires a change in
Israel’s laws to be able to hold
ministerial office. Earlier in his
career he was convicted of bribery
and forced to leave politics for
several years. Then in January
2022 he was convicted of tax fraud
and given a suspended sentence
which would normally prevent
him from serving as a minister.
Consequently, the second half of
December 2022 saw a whole series
of manoeuvres in the Knesset to
pass four new laws before the
governing coalition was sworn in!
Strong opposition delayed those
laws and caused Netanyahu’s
attempts to finalise the coalition
to run late, right up to the legal
deadlines. Negotiations with
Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power party
were still in progress just one hour
before the first deadline.
So Netanyahu made the crucial
phone call to President Isaac
Herzog, announcing success in
forming a coalition, with just 20
minutes to spare.
Even then, most of the formal
agreements between the coalition
parties had not been finalised, and
they all needed to be published 24
hours before the new government
was sworn in. That finally took
place on 29 th December, four days
before the final deadline on 2 nd
January, and it set to work on
Sunday 1 st January 2023.
The coalition’s legislative priorities
are the regulation of settlements
in Judea and Samaria (so that
they can operate like other Israeli
communities), moving civil
administration from inside the
defence ministry, and advancing
issues of judicial reform to redress
what they consider to be a current
imbalance of power.
10 ENHANCE • 1 ST Quarter 2023