Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to go against the coalition deal with Otzma Yehudit and appoint a Shas member to the Judicial Selection Committee rather than MK Yitzhak Kreuzer, coalition officials told Maariv on Sunday.
The sources noted that after the previous secret ballot vote, “the assessment is that the Shas member will pass smoothly and won’t spark opposition that would lead to an undesirable result.”
Tension has been rife within the coalition since Yesh Atid MK Karine Elharrar was elected to the Judicial Selection Committee last week. Now, the coalition is thinking about what it can do next.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin‘s position is that it whoever the coalition votes to join the committee doesn’t matter because of how the committee will be comprised. The committee includes nine members, including three judges who have veto power. The committee currently won’t meet until all its members have been chosen, which is what Levin is working towards.
Liberman accuses Israeli coalition, opposition of collusion in Judicial Selection Committee vote
Yisrael Beytenu leader MK Avigdor Liberman said on Saturday that he spoke with senior Likud officials and said “It seems like everything that happened around the vote on Wednesday was one big show.” According to him, “This is a deal between [National Unity leader MK Benny] Gantz and [opposition leader MK Yair] Lapid on one hand and Netanyahu and [Shas leader Arye] Deri on the other.”
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attend the special plenary session opening the winter session of the Knesset, on October 23, 2017. (credit: HADAS PARUSH/FLASH90)The Yisrael Beytenu leader also said that Shas MKs were among those who voted for Karin Elharrar and another candidate Pnina Tamano-Shata under the orders of Deri and with the knowledge of Netanyahu, Lapid, and Gantz.
“Lapid and Gantz’s interest was to achieve something in the Knesset vote, Netanyahu’s interest was to freeze the judicial coup in order to go to Washington and to weaken the protests. Deri’s interest was to continue the judicial reform talks at the President’s Residence in order to pave the way to his being able to return to the government.”
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