Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appointed his party’s former coalition whip, Miki Zohar, to head the powerful Knesset organizing committee, made possible after President Reuven Rivlin elected a new prime minister. to form a coalition after last month’s election.
The Organizing Committee, the first in the Knesset to be formed after an election, determines which parliamentary committees will be formed and who will sit on them. Most importantly, it also controls the legislative agenda in the new parliament until a new government is formed.
Netanyahu’s Likud party has taken control of the committee, as the chairman of the current designated prime minister is to be the chairman.
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Zohar is a staunch and loyal defender of Netanyahu and Likud, and has strongly supported the prime minister amid his ongoing legal problems.
He regularly stalks government institutions such as the state prosecutor and the Supreme Court and backs up the prime minister’s allegations that he is the victim of a witch hunt amid his trial on vaccinations.
In 2019, Zohar enacted legislation aimed at granting the prime minister immunity from prosecution.
In recent months, he has called Likud’s political opponents racist, compared Trump’s rebels to left – wing protesters against Netanyahu, and said that reforming Judaism is a threat to Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) with MK Miki Zohar during a Likud faction meeting at the Knesset, 7 December 2015. (Yonatan Sindel / Flash90)
Rivlin instructed Netanyahu last week to form a government after receiving more recommendations than any other party legislature that won representation in the Knesset during the March 23 vote.
Netanyahu, with 52 recommendations, however, still did not receive a majority support in the Knesset with 120 seats, and neither he nor the group of parties opposed to his continued government had a clear path to a governing coalition, leading to fear of a fifth. rapid fire election.
To reach a majority, Netanyahu needs the active support or outside support of the right-wing Yamina party, the Islamic Ra’am faction and the Religious Zionism faction, home to right-wing extremists.
Several – and mostly unlikely – scenarios are being driven about how to reach the magic number of 61, including reliance on outside Ra’am, despite opposition from right-wing lawmakers; try to recruit “defectors” from other parties; and to get Gideon Saar’s New Hope party to join such a coalition, despite the main campaign not to join a Netanyahu-led government.
Party leader of Religious Zionism, Bezalel Smotrich, at the party headquarters in Modi’in, on election night, March 23, 2021. (Sraya Diamant / Flash90)
Religious Zionism has ruled out any partnership with Ra’am, which would likely condemn Netanyahu’s prospects, but a Sunday report said party chairman Bezalel Smotrich ordered a poll to determine whether his supporters a right-wing government will rely on outside support from Ra’am.
According to the poll’s findings, more than 50% of supporters of religious Zionism say they prefer such a coalition over a fifth consecutive election, the Walla News website reports.
The question was set out in an internal survey under a series of questions on the election and coalition negotiations. Religious Zionism denies the report, which does not cite its sources.
Several Ra’am officials have also been excluded in recent weeks from working with Religious Zionism.
Haaretz reported on Sunday that Likud had put pressure on Smotrich to withdraw from his opposition to Ra’am and will do so in the coming week.
Frame party leader Mansour Abbas speaks at a press conference in Nazareth, April 1, 2021. (David Cohen / Flash90)
If Netanyahu fails to form a government within 28 days, the president can order the attempt to a second person (for another period of 28 days and a possible additional 14), or the mandate to the Knesset returns and the legislature gives 21 days to agree on a candidate supported by 61 MKs.
If the president appoints a second person and the person does not form a coalition, the mandate automatically returns to the Knesset for a period of 21 days. During that time, any MK may be eligible to form a government.
Rivlin implied that he might not give the mandate to a second candidate if Netanyahu failed, but would immediately send it back to the Knesset.
At the end of the 21-day period, if 61 MKs have not agreed on a candidate, the new Knesset will automatically go out and the country will go to another election, which is the fifth in less than three years.
