The final agreement included most of Netanyahu’s demands, including on the composition of the panel that appoints judges
PM and Blue and White chief meet to sign deal, which will reportedly give the premier most of his demands; two men expected to give statements later in the evening
The cabinet will reportedly include 32 ministers at first and then swell to 36, with 14 deputy ministers, as soon as the coronavirus crisis is deemed to have ended, in what will be the largest cabinet by far in Israel’s history.
Gantz will become defense minister in the year and a half he waits in the wings to take over as premier from Netanyahu, while Blue and White No. 2 Gabi Ashkenazi would be foreign minister.
Among other key ministries, Blue and White’s Avi Nissenkorn was to receive the Justice Ministry, while Likud would get the finance and public security ministries, as well as the position of Knesset speaker.
The main bone of contention was the makeup and mechanics of the Judicial Appointments Committee, which appoints judges, with Netanyahu — who has been indicted on multiple counts of corruption, including bribery — demanding greater control over the process.
It was not immediately clear what agreement Likud and Blue and White reached on the matter.
“So the compromise on the Judicial Appointments Committee is that Bibi [Netanyahu] chose all its representatives. Gantz and [Blue and White MK Gabi] Ashkenazi agreed to allow the Netanyahu to appoint the judges that will adjudicate his affairs,”
Besides Likud’s demands concerning the Judicial Appointments Committee, another key issue was reportedly Netanyahu’s concern that the High Court may rule that he cannot serve as prime minister due to the criminal charges against him, a development that could leave Gantz as premier for the entire term of their coalition.
Netanyahu had therefore reportedly been trying to engineer some kind of legislative guarantee that Gantz would not take over as prime minister in the event of such a court ruling. According to reports Monday night, there will be no such legislation, but rather an agreement by which Gantz will not take over as premier in such a case, and instead trigger elections.
“However, based on the Likud’s initial strong resistance to his appointment and the sigh of relief within the legal establishment, he is expected to return the position of justice minister position being much more in harmony with Mandelblit and the High Court, such as in the pre-2015 days of Tzipi Livni.
The days of attacks on Mandelblit, the state prosecution and the High Court are expected to end immediately, though even Livni sometimes expressed lighter and more narrow criticism of specific decisions by the court.
If there were questions about Ohana possibly pushing Netanyahu’s trial later due to the corona crisis, Nissenkorn’s appointment should ensure that the trial starts on May 24 as scheduled.
Much of the discussion has revolved around what kind of High Court justices Nissenkorn will appoint, with implications for who may be hearing appeals by Netanyahu if he is convicted in the bribery trial.
Critics of Blue and White on the Left – who said that the party folded and gave Netanyahu a veto of future justices – seem to not have done their homework.
The two dominant figures of the Judicial Selection Committee are the High Court President and the justice minister.
With both of these key actors on the same side, the whole process will be much more under the control of the justices themselves after a five-year hiatus in which former justice minister Ayelet Shaked managed to arrange more conservative appointments to the court.
True, Blue and White agreed to have Zvi Hauser take the traditional opposition seat – and he is a strong ideological right-winger and conservative when it comes to the High Court.
But Hauser will not do Netanyahu any favors on the rule of law, having left his orbit because of exactly those concerns. Hauser came into politics with other “old-style” Likudniks who criticize the court only on ideological issues, but support it in prosecuting public figures.
Moreover, the Likud together with Hauser have at most a minority veto over certain justices.
Nissenkorn along with three High Court justices and the Israel Bar Association’s representative – who under Avi Himi, is back in the court’s corner – have an actual majority.
Will Nissenkorn and the High Court need to make compromises? Of course.
But they will dictate the nature and scope of the compromises as opposed to the days of Shaked when she wielded both a majority on the committee and a government behind her which might remove the justices’ veto.”
This is from a portrait of the new Justice Minister, Avi Nissenkorn, under the new coalition agreement. It is written by the the press secretary for the Supreme Court, the Attorney General, and the public prosecutor’s office on the staff of the Jerusalem Post, Yonah Jeremy Bob. They leak everything to him, and he knows everything that is going on in the lawyers’ establishment. His analysis confirms my view that the Justice ministry, courts, the A-Gs office, and the public prosecuters office will be dominated by the Left under the new “coalition” government, and they will do everything in their power to remove Bibi and other Right ministers from office as soon as possible.
Netanyahu to meet Yamina leaders ahead of formation of new government, today Wednesday.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/279035
Bennett meeting with Bibi to discuss joining the new Unity Government.
The Yesha Council placed great importance on this meeting and thought it very important that Yamina beat part of the government to further Yesha settlement development.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/279005
Unity deal allows Netanyahu to begin advancing annexation from July 1
Move must be carried out in full cooperation with US, which has all but given its blessing already; can be advanced through cabinet or Knesset, where right enjoys clear majority.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/unity-deal-allows-netanyahu-to-begin-advancing-annexation-from-july-1/
Yamina will not join the government. Netanyahu, Bennet and Shaked have all made that chrystal clear. The coalition is a disaster. All the key positions will be held by Blue and White. Blue-Whites control over the Justic ministry, combined with Blue-hites close alliance with the Supreme Court, will ensure that Bibi is ousted by the court whenever the Left thinks the right time has come to get rid of him–maybe right away. The Blue-White minister of justice, the Attorney General, the “Supremes” and the Bar Association all in the same camp insures the appointment of more leftist, pro-Arab judges, both to the Supreme Court and the lower courts.
The Blue-White foreign and defense ministers will work to bring about Israel’s withdrawal from the central mountain ridge of Judea-Samaria and the eviction of the I80-90 thousand Israelis living there. Whatever promises they have made, they will attempt to sabotage any extension of sovereignty.
Netanyahu has committed political suicide for himself. Worse, he has handed Israel over to its enemies, internal and external.
It is NOT clear if Yamina will join the government at all talking to people in the party just below the MK level.
Application of sovereignty in Judea/Samaria Jewish Towns plus Jordan Valley/North Dead Sea is to occur per the Trump plan is supposed to happen July 1, 2020.