Ministerial panel to weigh bills that could halt Netanyahu’s trial, hinder Bennett’s run

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation is expected to give a nod today to bills that would enable lawmakers to halt Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trial and make it harder for his leading opponent to run in the next election.

Approval by the committee means the government officially supports a bill and will back it in the Knesset. Both bills are likely to face significant pushback, due to concerns over their potential damage to the rule of law and the democratic process.

The first bill would allow the Knesset House Committee to “stay the legal proceedings against the prime minister or a government minister” following an indictment “if it deems it necessary.” According to the Walla news site, the legislation sponsored by Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech — which is widely interpreted as intended to allow coalition lawmakers to pause Netanyahu’s trial — enjoys the support of Justice Minister Yariv Levin and will gain the ministerial panel’s approval.

A second bill being considered by the committee has been criticized for raising the bar for their political opponents.

The legislation, sponsored by Likud MK Avichai Boaron, would require any new party established by a chairman whose previous party dissolved within the past seven years to assume responsibility for that party’s outstanding debts.

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett, whose new Bennett 2026 party is seen as the primary contender against Netanyahu in the next election, slammed the bill in a tweet, writing that “only a failed regime that is preoccupied with personal and political survival would be afraid to confront me. Therefore, it is trying to pass an anti-democratic and personal law designed to stop me from running.”

“The law is unconstitutional and will be invalidated immediately,” Bennett writes.

Boaron retorts: “First, pay off your financial debts to the public. After that, you can start a new campaign. There’s absolutely no reason in the world that while you owe NIS 17 million to the public and to suppliers, you should be launching another multimillion campaign — at the public’s expense.”