Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu won’t adhere to the coalition agreement with Blue and White party chairman Benny Gantz requiring him to rotate out as prime minister after 18 months, Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avidgor Liberman said Monday, mocking the coalition deal as “weird”.
Speaking in an interview with Reshet Bet Monday morning ahead of a Supreme Court hearing on the coalition agreement, Liberman said there is “no chance that Netanyahu will adhere to the rotational agreement”.
Liberman also criticized the coalition agreement, which requires multiple changes to not only the Israeli legal code, but also some of Israel’s Basic Laws as a pre-condition for the government’s formation.
“Everyone knows this coalition agreement is weird. Things that don’t exist anywhere else in the world – like swearing in two prime ministers at the same time, banning the passage of legislation for six months. Obviously this reflects a lack of trust.”
The former Defense Minister went on to lament the lack of a constitution in Israel.
“Today is the 10th of [the Hebrew month of] Iyar, Herzl’s birthday. We are disconnected from the vision he had.”
“The continuous conflict between the judicial branch and the executive branch should lead us to the conclusion that we need a fundamental solution – not something piecemeal. And the only solution is drafting a constitution and establishing a constitutional court.”
Liberman blamed haredi lawmakers for the lack of a constitution, and called for the restricting of religious influence to synagogues.
“That’s the problem. Herzl wrote in his book: ‘Should we let the priests of our faith rule us?’ No. He explained that, with all due respect to the rabbis, they need to stay in the synagogues and not get involved in our lives.”