A dispute has arisen between members of the coalition, including Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and his long-time partner Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked, over the “Netanyahu Law,” a law that would ban candidates with criminal indictments from forming a government and limiting the term of prime minister to eight years or two terms in office.
Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar told the Yediot Achranot on Friday that he plans on submitting the “Netanyahu Bill” during the winter session of the Knesset. When asked if he coordinated the move with Bennett, who had publicly opposed the law during the last elections, Sa’ar said that Bennett had approved the law.
However, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked is adamantly opposed to the advancement of the law and has publicly expressed her opposition. “Some of the coalition parties wanted to put anti-Netanyahu bills in the coalition agreements. I refused and my stance has not changed,” Shaked told Channel 12 News on Motzei Shabbos.
According to a Jerusalem Post report, Labor chairman and Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli is also opposed to the law, telling the Post last month she opposes legislation aimed at one person, even if it is Netanyahu. “I would rather stop thinking about Netanyahu and focus on helping the citizens of this country,” she said.
Likud party members have accused Sa’ar of acting out of revenge and political considerations as polls show that his New Hope party would fail to pass the electoral threshold if new elections were held.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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One Response
Agree that laws seeking to target one individual are not really appropriate but in this case, it is really a generic statute considering how many Israeli politicians seem to find ways to violate the law and use the electoral process to evade prosecution and trial. In the U.S., the rules governing eligibility for Federal elected office such as President are set forth in the Constitution and the courts have generally struck down efforts by the States to set additional requirements (e.g. publicly disclosing federal tax returns) to appear on the ballots in those states. To that point, Trump could probably run in 2024 even if he is under a federal or state indictment.