Netanyahu: Bayit Yehudi pushing override power bill down the drain
Prime Minister Netanyahu maintains legislation to bypass High Court can only pass by reaching agreements within coalition, while Bennett, Shaked are trying to advance it without consensus; Bayit Yehudi: 'bill is being dragged out for three years now under different and strange excuses.'
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Bayit Yehudi Ministers Ayelet Shaked and Naftali Bennett on Monday of "pushing the override power bill down the drain."
"The only way to bring the override power bill (to a vote) right now is by reaching agreements within the coalition. Those pushing without reaching agreements are burying the override power bill," the prime minister said during an internal Likud Party meeting.
The Bayit Yehudi Party hit back, saying in a statement that "The override power bill is being dragged out for three years now under different and strange excuses. We're announcing in advance that any override power bill that has the approval of Prime Minister Netanyahu, Finance Minister Kahlon and the other coalition parties will be acceptable to the Bayit Yehudi Party as well. As long as the prime minister brings the bill (to a vote). Meanwhile, the only practical solution on the table is the bill we passed with the support of all ministers."
The override power legislation, which would allow the 120-member Knesset to pass laws already struck down by the High Court of Justice (HCJ) with a simple majority of 61 MKs, was approved by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday. The bill received the support of eleven committee members, while Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon was not present for the vote.
The bill proposal by Bayit Yehudi MK Bezalel Smotrich, which would constitute an amendment to Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, will likely be brought to a vote at the Knesset on Wednesday, despite objections from the Attorney General's Office.
“The position of the attorney general is that all the proposals should be opposed," Deputy Attorney General Raz Nizri said during the Ministerial Committee meeting. "We're not saying it isn't constitutional, because it is an amendment to a Basic Law, but we are opposed to it."
Earlier on Monday, Bennett vented his frustrations at a Bayit Yehudi Party meeting. "There's a limit to how much it can be postponed and dragged out," he said.
"The national camp can't understand while on a daily basis the High Court interferes in countless of things it's not supposed to interfere in," Bennett charged. "Something very problematic has been happening here over the past 25 years: a supreme-government has been formed that is called the High Court of Justice, and it is basically telling us, 'We like this, we don't like that'—this isn't the High Court's job."
The issue overshadowed a swearing-in ceremony for judges held at the President's Residence on Monday.
In her remarks at the event, Supreme Court Chief Justice Esther Hayut said that the issue should be "removed from the public agenda," adding that she thought the judiciary was under a "blunt, unprecedented attack that seriously threatens its independence and impartiality."
