As Gantz seeks to form government, Blue and White heads up key Knesset panel

Blue and White lawmaker Avi Nissenkorn on Thursday was appointed head of the key Knesset Arrangements Committee, a temporary panel that replaces the role of the House Committee in introducing legislation until a new government is formed.

His nomination came a day after Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz was tasked by the president with forming a government as prime minister-designate, prompting the reshuffling of the parliamentary panel.

The centrist alliance informed Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein (Likud) of its nomination of Nissenkorn for the post on Thursday, replacing Likud MK Miki Zohar.

The party that chairs the committee is the one whose leader has been tasked with forming a coalition. On Wednesday, President Reuven Rivlin tapped Gantz for the job after Likud’s leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, announced earlier this week he had been unable to do so.

As head of the Knesset committee, Nissenkorn, a former Histadrut labor union chief, has oversight powers to set the agenda in the plenum, determining which legislation is brought to a chamber vote.

Channel 13 reported Tuesday that Blue and White is weighing introducing legislation, as soon as next week, that would require Netanyahu to step down from his post if an indictment is filed in the three criminal cases against him. Gantz’s alliance could introduce the bill as early as Monday, the network said.

But while Blue and White is now in the driver’s seat, it will still require a majority in the committee in order to bring legislation designed to corner Netanyahu to a Knesset vote. Parties earn representation on the Arrangements Committee that is proportional to the number of seats they won in the election.

A majority for Blue and White will be contingent on Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman, who has called for a unity government involving both parties, and has until this point sought to avoid the appearance of allying with Blue and White against Netanyahu.

Liberman has not recommended either candidate to form the next government, including on Tuesday when Rivlin asked the parties if they would like to change their choices after Netanyahu announced he was returning the mandate to the president.

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced in February he intended to indict Netanyahu in three criminal investigations. Netanyahu, who denies any wrongdoing, has repeatedly claimed that he is the victim of a witch hunt by the media, the left, police and the state prosecution, designed to oust him from power.