Knesset okays election-averting bill to delay budget in a preliminary reading

The Knesset passed in its preliminary reading Wednesday a bill to grant the government more time to pass the national budget, helping avert a fourth round of elections by pushing off the approaching deadline.

The bill, proposed by the Derech Eretz faction, passed 56-41, but its fate in three future votes that are required for it to become law remains mired in the very same coalition disputes and wrangling that have prevented the budget from being passed in time.

A breakdown of the votes was not immediately available, but the Likud, Blue and White, and Shas parties backed the bill. Meanwhile some of United Torah Judaism’s MKs voted against it after the party allowed them to vote freely. The party’s leaders are concerned about the delay’s implications for funds to ultra-Orthodox yeshivas. Financing for the yeshivas, where a significant portion of the ultra-Orthodox community’s men spend their days in study, has been held up along with the budget.

The proposed bill gives the government an additional 100 days to approve the budget beyond the current August 25 deadline. If a budget isn’t approved by the deadline, the government will automatically fall and elections will be called.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who leads the Likud party, and his unity government partner Defense Minister Benny Gantz, the Blue and White leader, have been locked in a bitter standoff over the budget. The two agreed to pass a two-year budget covering 2020 and 2021 as part of the coalition deal between their parties that was signed in May, but the premier is now demanding a budget that only covers the rest of 2020, given the uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Gantz, who also has the title of alternate prime minister, is insisting on a budget that runs through next year, citing previous agreements and insisting it would help stabilize a teetering economy. He is concerned that Netanyahu plans to use next year’s budget negotiations as an excuse to break up the government to avoid a transfer of power in November 2021, under their premiership rotation agreement.

Likud said Monday that it would back the bill to push off the August deadline. Netanyahu’s party, however, only pledged to support the proposed legislation in its preliminary and first readings, not the second and third readings it must clear to become law, prompting speculation that the move was a ploy.

On Tuesday Channel 12 news reported that Netanyahu was demanding that Gantz agree to several changes to the coalition deal on matters unrelated to the budget as a condition for keeping the government intact.

According to the report, Netanyahu is demanding that the accord be altered so elections are automatically called should the High Court of Justice disqualify him from serving as alternate prime minister after he hands over the premiership to Gantz in November 2021. The current deal only gives Netanyahu protection for the first six months of the government’s existence.

Netanyahu is also reportedly demanding that the agreement to form a professional committee for appointing senior legal officials — such as the state attorney and the chief of police — be canceled, with that power returning to politicians.

The report said that was a demand that Blue and White would find “very hard” to accept, as it was one of its main achievements in the coalition deal. In entering Netanyahu’s government, Blue and White argued the move would enable it to protect the independence of democratic institutions and law enforcement.

Wednesday will also see the Knesset vote on an opposition proposal that would bar an MK under indictment from forming a government, which could block Netanyahu from again assembling a coalition due to his indictment on corruption charges.

Blue and White briefly considered backing the bill as relations with Likud deteriorated in recent days, but said Tuesday that its members would walk out of the vote.