Netanyahu ally Yariv Levin appointed temporary Knesset speaker
Likud MK Yariv Levin, a close associate of Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu, has been elected temporary Speaker of the Knesset.
Yariv Levin
The move clears a path for Likud and the right-wing bloc to pass legislation allowing Shas leader Aryeh Deri to return to the cabinet with the Interior and Health portfolios and also to expand the authority of the National Security Minister for Otzma Yehudit leader Itamar Ben-Gvir. Both parties are firm on not formally joining the governing coalition until the legislation is first passed.
“I hope that the 25th Knesset will be a Knesset that will live out its days and that a stable government will soon be established in Israel. We will need to make a joint effort in order to strengthen the position of the Knesset as the legislative authority, a position that has been greatly damaged in recent times “, said Levin after the vote.
With 64 of the Knesset’s 120 seats held by the right-wing bloc, Netanyahu hoped to assemble a new governing coalition quickly. But negotiations with the leaders of the Shas, United Torah Judaism, Religious Zionist Party, Otzma Yehudit and Noam dragged out over apportioning Cabinet ministries, Knesset committee appointments and prioritising policy.
All the parties have signed interim coalition agreements but not final agreements. Netanyahu had until Sunday to present his cabinet and coalition agreements to the Knesset for approval. He asked President Isaac Herzog for a two-week extension, which is customarily given, but Herzog gave Netanyahu 10 days instead without offering any explanation.
Netanyahu now has until December 21 to finalise his coalition.
Rabbi Dov Lipman, who served in the Knesset from 2013-2015, explained to the Tazpit Press Service the significance of the unprecedented delay in choosing a new speaker. Lipman, a former Yesh Atid MK, is the CEO and founder of Yad L’Olim, which assists and advocates for immigrants.
“The Knesset speaker has a number of responsibilities, primarily the agenda that’s brought to the Knesset floor. That is why it is very significant. This developing coalition will not form a government until two laws are passed first,” Lipman said.
“One is a law that enables Aryeh Deri to be a minister even though he has been found guilty of corruption charges in a plea bargain,” Lipman noted. “The law says that if you’re found guilty of corruption with jail time, you must wait seven years before becoming a minister.”
Deri, head of the Shas party, resigned from the Knesset in January as part of a plea agreement in which he admitted to two tax offences, paid a fine, and was given a suspended jail sentence.
“The second one is that Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is going to be Minister of National Security — that’s changing from Internal Security — he’s going to have control over the police in a hands-on way, not just oversight. That also has to be changed with legislation,” Lipman said.
The outgoing speaker, Mickey Levy of Yesh Atid, remains in his position, and “he will not allow those laws to come to the Knesset floor,” Lipman explained. “So they need to have a vote to get a new Knesset speaker to enable those two laws to come to the floor.”
Asked why the speaker hasn’t already been replaced, Lipman said that “there’s been so much turmoil inside Likud over what positions will they get after the coalition negotiations are over, and who from Likud will be the speaker… Netanyahu didn’t know who to appoint.”
Once the legislation for Deri and Ben-Gvir is passed, it seems that Yariv Levin will become Minister of Justice. Lipman said possibilities for a permanent speaker seem to be MKs Yoav Kisch, Ofir Akunis, Danny Danon and Amir Ohana.
“Levin is super-close to Netanyahu and will do as temporary speaker exactly what wants Netanyahu wants,” Lipman said.
Lipman added that there’s no precedent for a temporary speaker being chosen like this.
“When I was elected to the Knesset, the old speaker would automatically leave, and the most veteran member of the Knesset would serve as speaker just even for a few hours or a few days until the new government and speaker were put in place. But because of this delay, they didn’t do that, nor did the old government agree to that. So Mickey Levy has remained.”
