Three MKs from the Gil Pensioners party who split from their comrades to form a new party along with Russian-Israeli businessman Arcadi Gaydamak may have broken the law, according to attorney Nurit Elstein, the Knesset’s legal advisor. Elstein determined Sunday that the new party may have violated two of the Knesset’s rules; one prohibiting parties from promising a spot in the next Knesset to a particular candidate, and another regulating sources of funding for Knesset factions.
Elstein noted that the House Committee would have to determine whether or not to approve the split. "Following the serious accusations made in this specific case, which deviate from the background for splits that were approved in previous Knessets, the House Committee may not ignore them," she stated.
Justice - and a car
According to reports in the media, Gaydamak secured the defection of one of the MKs, Elchanan Gla
Galanti accused the three breakaway MKs of "political prostitution," as well as "Ceaucescu and Caligula-like megalomania."
zer, when he promised that a new car would be made available for his wife's use.
The Knesset’s House Committee will meet Monday to decide whether or not the three MKs will be allowed to form a new faction, which they plan to call “Justice for the Pensioners.” Elstein decided to examine the new faction’s legality following a request from Pensioners’ Knesset faction chairman MK Yitzchak Galanti.
The three breakaway MKs, Moshe Sharoni, Sarah Marom-Shalev and Glazer, said Sunday evening that they intended to study the Knesset Legal Advisor's opinion and would follow the law.
"The agreement is fundamentally unsound"
MK Galanti said: "The opinion speaks for itself. The House Committee will not be able to approve the split, based on the ideas presented in the opinion. The agreement between the sides is fundamentally unsound." Galanti also that said that if the House Committee does approve the split, he would consider appealing to the Supreme Court.
Earlier in the day, Galanti accused the three breakaway MKs of "political prostitution," as well as "Ceaucescu and Caligula-like megalomania" and "endangering the country's security."
In a letter to the Knesset's House Committee, Galanti claimed that the agreement between Gaydamak and the three MKs proved that "Sharoni's personal benefit precedes any other social criterion and that this was all he cared about in the Gil faction since he was elected to this Knesset." Galanti went on to say that Sharoni began "recklessly undermining Gil's ministerial seats" when he was unable to get a ministerial post himself.