Dictatorship? The laws Bennett-Lapid are planning to keep Netanyahu out

8 June 2021   

The Bennett-Lapid government plans to advance two dramatic laws: a cooling-off law for Benjamin Netanyahu and a law that will allow the dissolution of the Likud and the recruitment of defectors. According to the coalition agreement revealed by Amit Segal on Channel 12, a law will be promoted that will subject anyone who has served as prime minister for an eight-year period to a forced four-year cooling-off period - which is Netanyahu alone. This means that if the law passes, he will not be allowed to run for the Knesset in the next elections. This creates an interest for Netanyahu in preserving his Knesset term, since if it falls prematurely, someone else in the Likud will be a candidate for prime minister. The second law allows the Likud faction to be split under much more favorable conditions than those that exist today: according to the bill, this will be possible with just four MKs instead of ten - Likud defectors who will be recruited in the event that Ra'am decides to resign. Likud response: ""Bennett is turning Israel into a dark dictatorship - North Korea and Iran. Prime Minister Netanyahu is fighting Iran, and Bennett is bringing a law from Iran. This law will remove Israel from the company of enlightened democracies and put it in the darkest regimes of tyranny. "After Bennett deceived his voters and transferred votes from the right to the left just to appoint himself prime minister with 6 seats, now he is bringing a law that does not exist in any democracy in the world, with the aim of disqualifying Prime Minister Netanyahu from running for the Knesset and thus eliminating the strong leader of the right. Bennett is crossing every red line in his mad pursuit of the prime minister's chair at all costs.". Right response: ""There is no, there was no, and there will be no agreement on preventing Netanyahu from running for the Knesset. This is a proposal that was raised, not agreed upon, and there will be no agreement. The only thing that was and was agreed upon is limiting the prime minister's term to 8 years or 2 terms." The party added: "The coalition agreements have not yet been signed and are currently undergoing changes and amendments. Some of the things that were brought up are inaccurate, and some are relevant to previous drafts. The agreements will be published with full transparency to the public as soon as their contents are agreed upon." Amit Segal noted after the denial that a source in the intended coalition admitted that Yamina agreed to a clause that would prohibit Netanyahu from running for the Knesset, but was alarmed after the publication.