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Israel entered a sad political chapter the last month. During the recent 3rd national election, Likud and the “right” parties captured 59 seats out of 120 in the Knesset. Blue & White and the “left” parties captured 61.
The coup started when President Reuven Rivlin, who has the obligation to decide who should be given the first chance to try to form a government, choseBenny Gantz, who heads Blue & White.
The Blue & White’s coalition included 15 Arab Joint List representatives, who should not be allowed in any ruling government, or even be allowed to serve in the Knesset, because they reject (a) Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish State, and (b) Israel’s Basic Laws – which are the equivalent of America’s Constitution. By this coalition, Rivlin neglected his own responsibility to be loyal to the Basic Laws. Moreover, Rivlin allowed Blue & White to illegitimately take over Knesset committees before the new government was officially formed.
Benjamin Gantz, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
The left-leaning Israeli Supreme Court joined the coup, claiming it could dictate this protocol change onto the Speaker, by insisting that Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelsteinillegally allow a vote on electing a new Speaker. In response, Edelstein rightly resigned.
Israel’s Attorney General, Avichai Mandelblit, in the midst of the election, indicted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to hurt his chances of winning, to little effect. Now, Mandelblit wants a formal “kangaroo court” trial. The AG suffers from a massive conflict-of-interest, in that if he successfully “frames“ Netanyahu, he could probably join the anti-Israel, leftist Supreme Court.
So how will this attempted coup run its course? Fortunately, sanity prevailed. A unity government has been formed at this virus-infected desperate time, with Netanyahu as the PM. Hopefully, Netanyahu’s fake corruption charges will be dropped as are Benny Gantz’s probable but real corruption charges, regarding his activities with the Fifth Dimension company, that he incompetently ran into bankruptcy.
So what lessons have we learned? In the future, the Knesset must see to it that:
(1) Israel’s Attorney General, and Supreme Court justices, should be directly appointed by the Prime Minister, subject to approval by the Knesset Judiciary Committee.
(2) Israel’s Supreme Court must be stripped of its power to nominate its future justices. The elected political forces must regain control over the out-of-control judiciary. The Israeli judiciary must be prevented from participating in any future coups.