Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz's associates are examining whether they will be able to pass a law against Binyamin Netanyahu's candidacy for Prime Minister before the Knesset dissolves on August 24 if they do not reach agreements on the budget, Channel 13 News reported on Tuesday.
According to the agreement between Netanyahu and Gantz, if a budget is not approved by August 24, the Knesset will be automatically dissolved, so the law to disqualify a candidate with indictments must pass by that date to prevent Netanyahu from running in the next election.
Meanwhile, two important votes are scheduled to be brought before the Knesset on Wednesday that will further undermine coalition stability: The establishment of a parliamentary inquiry committee for the submarine affair and a vote on the “Overrule Clause”.
If the Likud votes in favor of the “Overrule Clause”, and does not abstain, it is possible that Blue and White will begin to initiate the legislative process against Netanyahu. Blue and White can claim that Netanyahu violated the agreements with the party and can most likely get a majority to vote for this law - but their decision largely depends on the Likud vote on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Jerusalem Affairs Minister Rabbi Rafi Peretz announced that he supports the “Overrule Clause” initiated by MK Ayelet Shaked (Yamina), and would have voted in favor if he had not been in isolation due to being diagnosed with coronavirus.
"Everyone has in recent years seen the growing intervention of the Supreme Court in the work of the Knesset. The Supreme Court repeatedly violates the delicate balance that should exist between the legislature and the executive and undermines governmental stability and separation of powers. In fact, the political turmoil we have gone through in the last year, which included three elections, began because of the Supreme Court’s rejection of the Draft Law enacted by the Knesset," Peretz said.
“The Supreme Court repeatedly discusses and intervenes in matters that are clearly not part of its powers, with the approach in which ‘everything is capable of being handled judicially’ having become a method that tramples the legislature in Israel.”
“Opponents of the Overrule Clause make use of the fact that the court is supposed to protect the minorities in Israel, but we all remember how much the Supreme Court defended the rights of Gush Katif expellees or the rights of the haredim to study separately. Time and time again the court has proven that it does not protect the rights of minorities In the State of Israel, and therefore, this claim does not stand the test of reality," Rabbi Peretz added.