Less than the 24 hours after the right-wing bloc replaced the Knesset Speaker, the Likud and its allies are expected to launch a legislative blitz in the Israeli parliament, laying the groundwork for a new government before Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu’s mandate to form a coalition expires.
President Isaac Herzog granted Netanyahu a ten-day extension to his mandate, which had been set to end this past Sunday.
While the Likud has signed coalition deals or preliminary agreements with all five of its rightist allies – Shas, United Torah Judaism, Otzma Yehudit, the Religious Zionist Party, and Noam – in order to ensure that the terms of the agreements are fulfilled, the new coalition must pass four pieces of legislation prior to the establishment of a new government.
The first step towards passing the bills in question was achieved Monday morning, when Likud MK Yariv Levin was voted in as Knesset Speaker, replacing Yesh Atid’s Mickey Levy. The vote took place a day later than originally scheduled, after the outgoing government threatened to filibuster.
The move guarantees the right-wing bloc control over the Knesset’s agenda, paving the way for a late-night preliminary reading in the Knesset plenum of the “Deri Law” – an amendment to Israel’s Basic Law on government, guaranteeing that Shas chief MK Aryeh Deri cannot be barred from serving as a minister on the grounds of moral turpitude for his tax crimes conviction.
Right-wing lawmakers are slated to push through another series of critical votes Wednesday, including forming key committees for the 25th Knesset which are necessary for moving forward with the four bills the coalition seeks to pass before a government is formed.
Along with the Deri Law, the right-wing bloc plans to pass the “Ben-Gvir Law,” which would expand the Public Security Ministry into the National Security Ministry, with significantly broader powers; the “Smotrich Law,” which will split control of the Defense Ministry’s Civil Administration from the Defense Minister’s portfolio, enabling the Religious Zionist Party to control settlement affairs without holding the Defense Ministry portfolio; and a bill limiting the ability of rogue MKs to establish break-away factions.