Blue and White, Likud: Coalition definite next week

Both parties confident High Court will not intervene

With next Thursday’s deadline to build a coalition fast approaching, Likud and Blue and White officials expressed confidence on Wednesday night that they will pass the necessary legislation to enable a government in the week ahead.

President Reuven Rivlin’s three-week mandate for any MK to obtain the support of 61 MKs to form a government expires next Thursday night at midnight. That has become the deadline to pass two separate bills that Likud and Blue and White see as a prerequisite for the government’s formation.

A filibuster by Yesh AtidTelem put making that deadline into jeopardy. But Blue and White leader Benny Gantz, who is now Knesset Speaker, added three extra voting days in the Knesset plenum on Thursday, Sunday and next Sunday to ensure that the bills will be passed.

“I am cautiously optimistic we will accomplish our goal of passing the bills on time,” said Blue and White MK Eitan Ginzburg, who chairs a special Knesset committee formed to pass the bills. “We knew there would be a filibuster, but we are actually ahead of schedule.”

Ginzburg expressed confidence that the Supreme Court would not intervene to prevent the government’s formation, as did Likud politicians close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit is expected to issue his long-awaited ruling as early as Thursday on whether he believes Netanyahu can form a government despite his criminal indictments. Mandelblit had postponed his ruling while waiting for the political parties to submit their opinions to the court. Blue and White submitted its case for permitting Netanyahu to form a government on Tuesday.

The Supreme Court will deal with whether Netanyahu can form a government on Sunday and with the legality of the coalition agreements on Tuesday and Wednesday. It is expected to then rule on both by next Thursday, ahead of that night’s Knesset votes to approve the new government.

“I don’t think the Supreme Court will interfere,” a politician close to Netanyahu said. “The judges would have to understand that it would result in sending the Israeli public to yet another election during the coronavirus crisis or a bill that would override their decision. They should realize that the rope is already tight as it is. I don’t think they

National Insurance Institute (Bituah Leumi), which clarified that its offices were not targeted during the attack.

While no arrests have yet been made, it is suspected that the attack is linked to ongoing protests by small business owners and self-employed workers regarding the government’s financial response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Earlier this week, stall owners at Mahaneh Yehuda, central Jerusalem’s famed shuk (outdoor market), protested at the market’s entrance due to its extended closure, despite the government easing restrictions on other businesses amid the coronavirus pandemic. One long-time store owner at the market committed suicide earlier this week, citing financial uncertainty.

Meanwhile in Tel Aviv, municipal wardens and police dispersed tent protests initiated by self-employed workers and small business owners on Rothschild Blvd. and Volvovski-Karni Garden, near the Arlozorov Interchange, to oppose the government’s response to the economic fallout from the coronavirus crisis.

More than a million individuals have applied for benefits since the start of March – among them, 88% were employees placed on unpaid leave, and 7% were made redundant. The unemployment rate currently stands at 27.4%, with just 4,769 applicants reporting that they have returned to work.

The number does not include many thousands of self-employed workers, who have halted all business activity but are ineligible to receive unemployment benefits. •