Knesset panel exempts bill to expand police minister’s powers from waiting period

Following three hours of heated discussion, the Knesset Arrangements Committee grants an exemption from a waiting period to legislation meant to expand the incoming national security minister’s powers over the police.

New bills must pass a 45-day waiting period between being formally submitted and being brought for a preliminary vote, unless granted a special exemption.

The first of four bills in a suite of legislation demanded by Likud and its partners in the incoming government, the bill will make the police commissioner “subordinate” to far-right Otzma Yehudit leader and expected police minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

The other three bills will clear a path for a party leader serving a suspended sentence — Aryeh Deri — to helm a ministry; enable a member of the Religious Zionism party — likely party leader Bezalel Smotrich — to become an independent minister in the Defense Ministry in control of West Bank construction; and make it harder for any potential rebel MKs to peel off from their parliamentary factions without sanction, a bill specifically desired by Likud.

All four are expected to be discussed today, as they are being rushed through the committee in order to bring them to a preliminary vote this evening.

Incoming opposition members have been wielding parliamentary tools to jam up the Likud-led legislative agenda, including demanding a revote on the exemption granted to the Ben Gvir bill.

The Arrangements Committee, which started its sitting shortly after 11 a.m., has yet to vote on the remaining three bills, in addition to the re-vote on the police bill.