Coalition whip backs ‘override clause’ bill, setting up potential coalition crisis

As if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s unity government with Defense Minister Benny Gantz isn’t shaky enough as is, a new proposed law is threatening to deepen the rift between the Likud and Blue and White parties.

MK Ayelet Shaked, a former justice minister from the opposition right-wing Yamina party, has said she will push ahead with a Knesset vote on a law bill that would enable the parliament to overrule High Court decisions with certain conditions, even though the coalition has said it will oppose it.

The bill, known as the “override clause,” has previously been championed by Likud and Netanyahu, but is bitterly opposed by Gantz’s Blue and White, who view it as an attempt to harm a key check on the Knesset’s power.

But the coalition whip, Miki Zohar, a Netanyahu loyalist from Likud, says he will recommend that the premier support the bill which is set to go up for a vote next week.

“We cannot go against our voters,” Zohar tweets.

Likud Minister David Amsalem and Blue and White’s Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn have previously agreed to only pass legislation that has to do with the coronavirus crisis.