Bills limiting Netanyahu’s rule go up for vote tomorrow; Ra’am said set to support

With the Gaza operation over, political scrambling is continuing, with Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid — currently tasked with forming a government — renewing efforts to pass laws limiting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chances of forming a new coalition.

Though Lapid’s own chances of forming a coalition were severely hampered by Yamina chief Naftali Bennett indicating last week that it isn’t an option, he does have hope that parties opposing Netanyahu will support legislation stating that a premier cannot serve for more than two terms, and that a criminal defendant cannot be tasked with forming a government.

Those bills will go up tomorrow at the Knesset Arrangements Committee, with Channel 12 news saying Mansour Abbas’s Islamist Ra’am party is leaning toward backing them.

If the bills pass the committee vote, they will still have to pass a preliminary vote in the Knesset plenum and then three more readings to become law.

A Netanyahu-pushed bill for direct elections for prime minister is likely to fail to pass.