A-G: I will give view on whether Bibi can form gov’t after parties respond

APRIL 27, 2020 10:46

Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit on Monday told the High Court of Justice that he should only have to give his view on whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can form the next government, as well as other controversial aspects of the coalition deal, after the parties involved respond.

Last Thursday, the High Court ordered Mandelblit to give his opinion on the disputed issues by Tuesday, including the implications for Netanyahu of the bribery indictment pending against him.

However, on Monday, Mandelblit said that since the issue at hand is coalition politics and not a government position, he must be a neutral arbiter on behalf of the public interest.

As such, he said, it would be improper to place him in the position of the defender of the coalition deal and of Netanyahu serving as prime minister.

Rather, he said, the Likud and Blue and White should defend against the petitions, and only after they have filed their defense, he should file his apolitical view of the issues in dispute.

Both Mandelblit and the High Court have already rejected several petitions seeking to fire Netanyahu on a variety of grounds dating back to the indictment being issued on November 21, 2019.

This is despite the fact that Mandelblit is the one who issued the indictment against Netanyahu.

Some of the several petitioning good government groups are slightly more hopeful of winning over the court this time because this is the last crunch moment where the High Court can weigh in.

Until now, the High Court had rejected most petitions as premature, based on the idea that it was unknown whether Netanyahu would be tasked to form the next government.

With the deal between Netanyahu and Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz, that issue is no longer theoretical.

However, during one of the petitions, Mandelblit and the High Court did delve into aspects of the merits and gave strong hints that they would voice disapproval of Netanyahu for failing to step down voluntarily, while throwing up their hands that current Knesset law does not require forcing him out prior to conviction and exhausting all appeals.

Even if Netanyahu is convicted in his trial, due to start on May 24, the process could easily run between one and three years, depending on how quickly the Jerusalem District Court presses the case.

One other difference from prior petitions is that this time, the Yesh Atid-Telem Party petitioned against the coalition deal, including against the multiple changes the deal requires to the Basic Laws and the enormous number of ministries which will be created.

It is possible that Mandelblit and the High Court will allow Netanyahu to run, but could void one or more specific provisions of the Netanyahu-Gantz deal.

Still, had Mandelblit or the High Court wanted to take Netanyahu out of the political arena, their strongest chance at doing that would have been prior to the March 2 election when the Likud could have picked a new candidate.

Based on prior comments of Mandelblit’s office and the justices about their sensitivity to the public will during elections, it is much less likely that either of them will seek to disqualify Netanyahu, now that he also has Gantz’s support to avoid a fourth election.

Originally Mandelblit was due to give his opinion already last week, but after additional petitions were filed, the High Court extended the time to respond until Tuesday.