On Sunday the cabinet voted to extend the current closure. While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu backed the Ministry of Health’s vision for a week-long expansion, Defense Minister Benny Gantz wanted to lift it immediately, citing its ineffectiveness. The result is a compromise, where the lock was extended by just four days instead of seven.
On Wednesday, the cabinet is expected to meet again to discuss further expansion following the emerging coronavirus infections. However, that meeting may not take place due to a special coalition agreement signed by the two directors back in April.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz
(Photo: AFP)
During the cabinet meeting it was agreed that the government will decide whether to extend the lockout based on the latest data on coronavirus infection.
If there is no drop in infections or the number of sick people by Wednesday, Netanyahu is expected to push for another expansion. Gantz has already said he will oppose such a measure.
While 17 is against the majority and his friends Haredi with a majority of 17 against 10 ministers over Blue & White, Gantz is still able to block the expansion.
To clarify this situation, we need to look back at a legal opinion on the coalition agreement announced by former Deputy Attorney Dina Zilber, which was approved by Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit .
Former Deputy Advocate Dina Zilber
(Photo: Yuval Chen)
The Blue & White and Likud agreement was signed stating that there will be no senior positions within the first 100 days of the government. In August, Knesset passed the budget compromise proposed by Derech Eretz MK Zvi Hauser then, which extended government rule beyond the 100-day mark.
In response, Likud formulated a recommendation that a special ministerial committee handle senior positions, but that senior positions in the public sector not be filled at this time. The move would have put an end to all endless posts. Blue & White, who was at the time pushing for a new state lawyer, refused.
This rejection raised a legal question: what would have happened if the proposal had been pushed through by Likud with his ministerial majority in the government? According to Zilber, the answer is hidden in the Basic Law: The Government.
Gantz and Netanyahu sign the coalition agreement after the March 2020 election
“However, if the number of ministers is not equal, the government would establish a voting system, under which the voting power of all ministers attached to the prime minister in the government will be equal to the voting power of each a minister attached to the other Prime Minister, or rules on how to ensure such treatment. “
This approach has never been implemented since previous attempts by Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn were thwarted by Likud.
Lockdown implemented in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem
(Photo: Alex Kolomoisky, Motti Kimchi )
Zilber’s view, adopted by Mandelblit, said it is illegal for the government to decide where there is partisan disagreement (rather than disagreement between ministers).
Given the disagreement over the lockout extension between Likud, it is not incumbent on his friends Haredi and Blue & White, Gantz and his party to enter Wednesday’s meeting and discuss the horrific pro-Netanyahu cabinet.
The main idea is that Netayahu and Gantz are the only people who will decide what course Israel will take in the coming weeks in its battle against the pandemic and not health experts or finance.