T. Belman. The author is a former Canadian Ambassidor to Israel and a lawyer who now lives in Israel. That doesn’t mean she is right. For years now the Government in Israel has been fighting the “deep state” and making progress. The left says this fight is an attack on democracy whereas the right believes that democracy in Israel requires the Knesset to be the government of the country, not the bureaucracy.
Thus Bibi’s fight is part of a larger fight and should not be abandoned.
By Vivian Bercovici, COMMENTARY
[…] So now, in another first for Israel, all 120 elected MKs now have 21 days in which to attempt to do it somehow—a long shot that may, however, actually result in the unity government desired by the vast majority of Israelis.
Gideon Sa’ar, a very popular Likud member and nemesis of Netanyahu, let it be known on Thursday, before the AG’s announcement, that he believes there should be Likud primaries to select a new leader regardless of the PM’s legal woes. He also confirmed his candidacy. It is inconceivable that Sa’ar took such a bold, public step without knowing he has the backing of several powerful Likud members. Sa’ar might be able to lead Likud into a unity government with Blue and White and other parties, leaving the ultra-orthodox and more extreme right-wing parties on the sidelines.
There is a view that, by law, Bibi can remain in the PM chair. However, on Friday, the AG indicated that he may release a legal opinion in coming days as to why this may be technically possible but legally unsound.
In my view, should Bibi attempt to continue as PM, his presence and authority would be utterly corrosive. Fighting for his liberty and reputation in criminal court would not only distract from the duty he owes the state, it would sully the institutional integrity of the state of Israel in every aspect. A PM constantly denigrating top justice officials cannot lead the country with moral authority. He must step aside and face the court, as would any other citizen so charged.
Bibi may well be innocent and, as he declares, this could prove to be a vicious, malevolent conspiracy to disgrace him. Then again, it may not. But whatever the ultimate outcome, it is untenable for him to continue to serve as PM when his tactic in defending himself is to be at war with the state.
The country has voted, twice since April, and has not returned a decisive mandate to Likud. Should he force the nation to a third election by refusing to resign, Bibi will surely be trounced, reducing not just himself but his party to a shameful shadow of the great, principled machine it once was. The once-storied Netanyahu name and one of the greatest political leaders of all time, not just in Israel, will be remembered for a bitter, desperate end, not a decade of glory—a tragically avoidable denouement.
Vivian Bercovici served as Canada’s ambassador to Israel from 2014 to 2016. She is a lawyer and consultant and resides in Tel Aviv.
Somebody – or rather the LIKUD executive – should tell BB to resign and go to court so as to (1) Patiotically let the country form a government and get on with a lot that needs doing.
(2) So that he can can get the accusations out of the way one way or the other and start again.
(3) Sharp practice or what is sharp practice even if it is not actual infringement of the rules /laws is a moveable judgement as the bar rises from decade to decade.
Also important to recognize that Israel is actually ruled by the Bar Association, not by parliament, the Prime Minister, cabinet officers or the Knesset. THey are essentially window dressing. The only real authority the Prime Minister has is in the area of diplomacy, where naturally Bibi has concentrated his efforts. A 200-member “Legal Affairs Committee,” chosen by the Bar Association and containing nearly 1/4 of its members, must approve allappoinments to offices that have any real authority. But there are also a complex rabbits-warren of smaller “selection committees, ” all of them dominated by lawyers, which must approve appointments in each department of government, including the judicialSupreme Court and all other judicial appoinments are made by a committee of nine, of whom three are appoined by the Supreme Court (all Bar Association members, of course), and three of whom are chosen by the Bar Association. Thus the lawyers’ fraternity has two tiers of control over all appointments–including the chief of staff of the army and several other senior officers.The lawyers have repeatedly rejected candidates for senior military offices nominated by either the Prime Minister or the chief of staff.
The only other officials of the government who have any actual control over government decisions are career civil servants. They are not even nominated, much less appointed, by elected officials, and are in no way answerable to them. Yet key decisions are in their hands. For example, the middle level bureaucrat who has the power to make regulatory changes for the telecommunications industry rejected the regulatory changes requested by the chairman of Bezeq (what is his name?), even though Bibi, at the chairman’s request, urged the bureaucrat to approve them. Instead, the bureaucrat imposed regulatory changes of his own that screwed Bezel and caused it to lose several billion dollars in revenues, by opening up the telecommunications field to more competition. That’s why the Bezel CEO complained to police and prosecutors about Bibi, because he assumed Bibi had double-crossed him. Presumably, he didn’t understand that bureaucrats, not the PM, regulate the telecommunications industry. Had he been a little smarter or better informed, he would have gone directly to the bureaucratic decision-maker and not bothered with Bibi.
@ Bear Klein: I agree with most of this. But the policy differences between Likud (including Sa’ar) over policies toward the Jewish settlements, the “two state solution,” aid to Hamas-ruled Gaza, a relationship of some sort between the government and the anti-Zionist parties, etc. etc. are too great for a coalition between Likud and Blue-White to be realistic. I can’t see it happening. Both sides say they are in favor of a unity government, but that’s just a show to satisfy the public.
@ Sebastien Zorn:
My point was that Ganz has a little over 40 seats so for Saar to help him reach 61, he only needs half of what is available. i.e Likud splits.
@ Bear Klein:
I had thought that the Defen se Ministry was split.
I want to talk with youj on the phone. Please install Signal and call me.
@ Ted Belman:Defense Ministry is still in charge of Area C. The notable exception to this was the judicial reform allowing Land Disputes and claims to be handled by the District Court or Magistrate Court in Jerusalem ( I forget which court).
It no longer goes straight to the Supreme Court, so fact ruling gets done in the lower court.
Ted Belman Said:
Don’t you need 60?
If Bibi doesn’t resign and let Saar or Katz lead tempoarily until the primaries, he will destroy the Likud party. i.e., if he forces the Likud to split up between loyalists and others, it could be the end of the Party.
So in my thinking, I am not waiting for the primaries.. Saar or Katz alone or together should cut the best deal possible and then hopefully it is acceptable to enough of the 55 block. If Likud decides to stay together, then they will vote on it. and decide.
In deciding what can be done, there is always the option of doing nothing on contentious things..
As you know that much of this is done by distributing the ministries and fixing their budgets.
Please tell me if the Defense Ministry is still in charge of the settlements and housing and land planning in J&S.
@ Ted Belman:Let me bring out a few points that could different.
1. Lapid & Liberman will both want to change the status state/religion, mostly along the lines of what Liberman & Gantz agreed to before it will be significant.
2. Lapid & Gantz will not agree to annex as much as the Likud or the New Right want. They will have to be compromise here. Exactly what they could agree to I am not sure.
3. On the changes for the Court again Lapid & company are not in favor so compromise would be needed.
4. A unity government requires compromises from both sides and neither side gets everything they want.
There are 14 days after an MK gets 61 days to form a coalition by law or elections are required within 90 days. The clock is running.
If Katz who is the Likud Chairman and a Bibi loyalist does not agree to rapid fire primaries this whole idea will likely die and their will be an election.
In Saar’s interview he was making a big deal of getting the primaries in 2 weeks so that there would still be a few days to get the signatures afterwards. This is all super tight. Hope it works but it a Jewish Hail Merry Pass to the back of the end zone with less than a minute left to play.
At the moment Gantz is asking Likud Mks to sign him up as PM for two years and saying the BS if Bibi comes back he can have the second two years as PM. That will NOT fly but that is pitch, it is almost an election pitch.
Once UTJ and Shas are gone , Liberman would bring his 8 seats in.
If only half of Likud sign up that leaves avout 35 seats in Saar’s block. (leaving out UTJ and Shas.) With Liberman in, the right has about a block of 42 roughly similar to Gantz’s block. No problem forming a government.
Likud members will be very cautious.. Saar has to immediately get together with Gantz and set out the policies of such a government. In order to attract Saar’s group, Gantz must give him much of what the right wasts.
1. The status quo in religious matters must be maintained as much as possible. But changes to it must be set out in the agreement.
2.. There must be an agreement regarding what to annex and what to build.
3 . It would be great if they ciould get an agreement on Shaked’s agenda of change for the Court.
Rotation is also a must.
Who is this Saar. His name is always floated in the Likud winds like a toy sailboat launched from the gutter by Dennis The Menace.(I actually observed this at age 7-8 being filmed as a child at The Columbia/Screen Gems studio outback sets. Jay North, the troubled child actor was old enough to be drinking coffee on the set and towered above me between takes. Was nasty too. He could’nt be nice.Very troubled child actor)
Anyway, this is a test for Israel.
What are Israelis made of will be the mystery.
If the country does have superior character they will vote to support Netanyahu 100%. Let Lieberman eat shit with Gants, Lapid and Ya’alon with their partners on the joint list. The Dreck is a Wreck. Support the one and only Bibi. The Israelis are his only hope. Give him a majority. You may be very sorry , otherwise. Mark my words.
My guesstimate is that the New Right three MKs would also sign up with Saar or another Likud MK during the 21 days. So if that was correct you would be up to about 50 signers so you would need about 10 other Likud MKs. This is very possible. Once you got to 61 MKs more would sign up or during the 14 coalition forming period more would sign up or the whole Likud would sign up and you would have a unity government. This is the only possible way to get 61 or more MKs signing up for another MK.
The majority of the Israeli electorate would be in favor of this, that should count for a lot the MKs hopefully. This is what they keep verbalizing that we do not want new elections. During Coalition negotiation it is likely that Gantz and the Likud MK (Saar most likely) would agree to a rotation of the PM position.
@ Ted Belman:You are correct Ted. That is the hypothetical I said a while ago which had a chance to form a government. That said we are not there yet.
Also Labor & Gesher likely would sign up to such a government that is what another 5 or 6 seats, so you are up to about 47 seats. They were just dead set against Bibi.
The far left (Democratic Union aka Mertez) does not fit.
why not? Both Trump and Bibi have been doing it successfully for awhile and it’s driving the international liberal Deep State nuts.
SAAR HAS OPENLY DECLARED HIMSELF AND TOLD BIBI TO RESIGN.
Gantz and Liberman are on board. They have 42 seats. That means that Saar just has to get 20 seats out of the Right wing Block of 55 seats. Drop the religious parties and the block is reduced to 41. So Saar needs only about half of the remainder.
A primary fight for the leadership of the Likud, regardless of who wins it, will leave the party divided and the supporters of the losing candidates embittered. It will also create an unatractive spectacle of a divded party, full of receiminations against each other. That will make an overwhelming defeat for Likud and an overwhelming victory for Blue-White and its allies.
In any case, Gantz is working hard to line up 61 signatures over the next two and a half weeks. The weakened position of Netanyahu may persuade the Blue-White factions and all their potential partners hat they should give Gantz the vote of confidence that he seeks. In that case there will be no third election–just four years of Blue-White rule.
Anyone interested in learning about Bribery Laws in Israel may want to read the following article. The article goes way beyond this and also talks about laws about public officials taking gifts and public corruption laws.
It is quite informative.
https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=80ca3dab-a211-4309-85bf-a910820f93f6
There maybe 2 or 3 other Likud Mks who are also contemplating and evaluating putting their hat in the ring to replace Bibi. Israeli TV says they are polling to see how they might fare electorally.
Vivian Bercovici wrote a logical thoughtful article.
Most other people writing on this topic write either from the standpoint of the Bibi haters throw the guy in jail all ready or from the passionate right we know for sure this is a conspiracy against Bibi and no possibility exists that he committed a crime.