Israel Beiteinu files new bill targeting Netanyahu, bringing total to 5

In another bid to oust Netanyahu, Avigdor Liberman’s party proposes revised legislation to prevent Netanyahu from holding office.

By Paul Shindman, World Israel News

The Israel Beiteinu Party filed another bill in the Knesset Tuesday in a bid to block Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from leading a coalition government, Channel 13 news reported.

The proposed legislation comes a week after the party filed a similar law that would bar a person who has been charged with an offense from serving as prime minister in an interim government. Blue and White, the largest opposition party, filed three bills targeting Netanyahu, which the prime minister’s allies have derided as “personal” laws.

The new bill calls for any cabinet minister or the prime minister to resign within 30 days of being served with an indictment. Under the current law, the Knesset is only entitled to remove a prime minister from office after conviction for a serious offense.

In December, Netanyahu was charged with fraud, breach of trust and bribery in three different cases. Netanyahu has fervently denied the charges, calling them a “witchhunt” to remove him from office after the opposition repeatedly failed to bring him down at the ballot box.

The previous motion, if passed, would have resulted in Netanyahu having to resign immediately as he is the head of a transitional government following the March 2 national election.

The new motion is based on a previous proposal that Netanyahu and his Likud Party allegedly supported in the past, the report said.

Netanyahu has been prime minister of three successive “interim governments” after the three consecutive elections in the past year failed to produce a decisive result. His repeated calls for a national unity coalition government failed to yield a partnership with the opposition Blue and White Party headed by former IDF commander Benny Gantz.

With Israel facing a national crisis from the coronavirus pandemic, Netanyahu called for a government of national unity of all Israel parties except for the Arab Joint List. Negotiations are ongoing.

After receiving support from the Joint List, Gantz was tasked last week with forming a new government and the two sides have been waging a political battle at the same time as the country has been shut down by the pandemic.

“Netanyahu doesn’t really want unity,” an Israel Beiteinu party official told Channel 13. “It’s all a show. Only those laws will make it come true.”