Justice Minister Tzipi Livni is actively torpedoing the so-called Zoabi Bill, which would make it possible to dismiss rogue MK Hanin Zoabi (Balad) from the Knesset.
Livni filed a an appeal against the fact that the decision to bring the bill to a Knesset vote was made by the Coalition Management and not in the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, which she chairs.
As a result of this appeal, the Knesset plenum discussion of the bill that was scheduled for Wednesday has been postponed.
The bill would make it possible for a 61-member majority in the Knesset to permanently dismiss an MK who expressed support for a terror organization or for a state that takes belligerent action against Israel. Before such a vote is held, the Knesset's House Committee would have to vote to recommend the impeachment.
In the case of an MK “who, during a time of war or a warlike operation against an enemy state of terror group, published praise for armed struggle against the state of Israel,” the bill states, “his term of office in the Knesset will end on the day in which the Knesset decides by a majority of its members and with the recommendation of the House Committee, that the statement he published constituted support [for the enemy's action] as defined above.”
The bill was presented by MK David Rotem (Yisrael Beytenu) and was signed by 27 other MKs, including Hilik Bar (Labor), Rina Frenkel (Yesh Atid), David Tzur (Hatnua) and MKs from Shas, UTJ, Likud and Jewish Home.
MK Rotem accused Livni of allowing “populism and elections-related considerations” to guide her in filing the appeal. The bill, he noted, was signed by members of nearly all factions in the Knesset. “The last word has not been said,” he vowed, “and Yisrael Beytenu will fight to advance the bill.”
"No country in the world,” noted Rotem, “allows people who undermine its very existence and support terror groups to serve as parliament members.”
Livni has taken advantage of her authority as chair of the Ministerial Committee for Legislation – through which bills normally have to pass in order for them to receive coalition support – to stall or bury several bills that she found to be too nationalistic or not “democratic” enough. The latest example of this was her decision to remove the Jewish State bill from the committee's agenda – a move that prompted Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to bring the bill to a vote in the cabinet.
This behavior has caused outrage among the less leftist coalition partners, and appears to be a prime motivation behind recent moves by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu – as well as Jewish Home head Naftali Bennett – to hold primaries ahead of possible national elections. The moves by Netanyahu are seen as a signal to Livni that if she persists in her oppositional activities, he will not hesitate to dissolve the government and hold new elections, in which her chances of being reelected are far from certain.