Crisis looms over order to demolish settlers’ outpost
A HIGH Court order for the Israeli government to demolish a settler outpost by the end of the year is causing a new coalition crisis.
What is unique about this particular political battle is that most of Likud’s Knesset members are pressuring Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the issue.
Twenty-five of them, including most of the party’s ministers, have signed an open letter calling for a “formalisation law” that would legalise the Amona outpost.
The High Court ruled earlier this year that since the 40 houses in Amona were built on privately In a bind: Bibi owned Palestinian land, they must be dismantled by December 25. Although Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman has acknowledged that there is no alternative to following the ruling, members of his own party, Yisrael Beiteinu, as well as the hard-right Jewish Home and a majority of Likud MKs are trying to pass the formalisation law in the Knesset’s next session. The chances of the legislation passing are slim, as coalition member Kulanu is expected to vote against any law bypassing the High Court. Even if the right wing manages to eke out a majority in favour, the law will almost certainly be struck down by the High Court. Attorney-General Av ichai Mendelblit has already deliv- ered an opinion that it is “unconstitutional”.
Jewish Home has yet to announce a formal position on Amona, but some of its MKs have already announced that if the outpost is demolished, they plan to vote against the state budget.
Such a move would be tantamount to abandoning the coalition, but Mr Netanyahu would probably ignore it if he could still guarantee himself a majority in the budget vote. However, given the current size of the coalition — 66 MKs — it would only take six rightwingers to scupper the budget. Failing to pass the budget would force the prime minister to resign.
Mr Netanyahu has invested a great deal of political capital in this budget, in the hope that it will give him a measure of coalition stability until the end of 2018. His MKs are not going to help him achieve that with any degree of ease.