Addressing a Yisrael Beitenu faction meeting in Knesset on Sunday 1 Rosh Chodesh Adar 5773, party leader Avigdor Lieberman spoke of the importance of forging ahead with the planned change in the form of government in Israel. Lieberman feels this issue must be tackled by the new government from the get go, highlighting the need for a constitution and to pass the radical change in the form of government as soon as possible. He explained Israel’s top experts have been working on a draft constitution for a number of years.
Lieberman stated that the prime minister and Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid both support the change, which can be implemented. He added “I don’t disqualify anyone as a potential coalition partner and Yair Lapid is suitable as well.” His statement follows statements released last week that he would prefer Shas in the coalition over Lapid and his party.
“If there was ever a historic opportunity this is it, to put this in the coalition agreement and act in our first month to bring about a change in the form of government” Lieberman commented in the presence of reporters. Some of the changes suggested by Lieberman includes raising the minimum threshold from entering Knesset from 2% to 4%, making it more difficult to topple the government, and that the head of the largest party following elections automatically becomes the prime minister.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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6 Responses
The Israelis love to play with their voting system. For years they thought that raising the threshold would get rid of religious parties, but that isn’t the case.
If winning the popular vote, or having the most seats, guarantees being prime minister, one can end up (as happened) with a prime minister who doesn’t have support from the majority of the kenesset.
The reason they don’t a constitution is a significant minority wants the constitution to say that “Torah is the law of the land” but the majority of the elite want a constitution to ban Torah as a source of law.
A constitution that guaranteed the rights of shomrei torah umitzvot to practice yiddeskeit as they appropriate but that did not carve out any blanket exemption from civil/criminal law would be the ideal. Even in the United states, we are constantly litigating the intersection of secular and religious practice and how much “accomodation” the government must provide to those who seek religious exceptions to civil law.
akuperma, are you ready to have torah as the source of the land? only an honest one word answer please. my follow up questions will come after your honest answer.
Agunas are much worse off in the US than Israel because there is no civil marriage in Israel and violators can be punished with real sanctions.
#3 – What a Jewish state’s constitution would say in its reception clause is: “Halacha shall be the law of the land, unless specificially contradicted by an act of parliament” – that’s the same as the status of the common law in Anglo-American law.
# 5 – only an honest one word answer please. my follow up questions will come after your honest answer.