‘They cannot cancel elections’: Coalition rails against High Court hearing

ARIELLA MARSDEN

“The hearing being held today in the court is in practice a hearing to cancel the results of the elections,” accused Justice Minister Yariv Levin.
.

JUSTICE MINISTER Yariv Levin presents the reasonableness clause to the Knesset in July. / (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)

The coalition accused the High Court of Justice of cancelling the elections and destroying democracy on Thursday as the court held a hearing on whether or not to strike down the Incapacitation Law.

“THe hearing being held today in the court is in practice a hearing to cancel the results of the elections,” accused Justice Minister Yariv Levin. “The meaning of postponing the applicability of the Incapacitation Law is that an official, no matter how senior, can take for themself the authority, which was never given to them, to debate the ridiculous possibility of declaring a prime minister incapacitated in complete opposition to the results of the elections.

“The petitioners are basically requesting to eliminate Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu to put an end to the right-wing rule. They failed at the ballots and are now requesting to cancel the results of the election.

“The result is that there will no longer be democracy in Israel but a rule of people who put themselves above the people and above the voters’ decision at the ballots.”

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich added that the hearing was, to his mind, illegitimate.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich is seen addressing a Knesset committee meeting in Jerusalem, on July 19, 2023. (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)

“The people had their say in the election, and officials cannot cancel the choice of the people,” he said. “Judges cannot cancel basic laws, and they definitely cannot invent for themselves or for the attorney-general the authority to dismiss an elected prime minister. This is the truth, and the rest is a terrible and invalid show.”

“If Netanyahu is incapacitated, Israel is incapacitated”

Women’s Advancement Minister May Golan said that if the High Court declared Netanyahu incapacitated, it would be declaring the Israeli public incapacitated.

“Incapacitation is ‘an inability to fulfill a role’,” she said. “And anyone who saw the prime minister deliver his speech to the UN understands how extreme the notion is that is being considered in the High Court. The only people who need to be declared incapacitated are a handful of anarchists who are instilling fear and terror on the frightened and trembling opposition leaders.”

Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman attended the hearing as his party is one of the petitioners.

“This is a highly unreasonable law that enables declaring a prime minister incapacitated only after a funeral,” he said. “The legislation process was handled under personal pressure that stemmed from the prime minister’s paranoia, and the Knesset cannot be the answer to his paranoia.

“The law is a personal law that is meant to change the rules of the game in the middle of the game, and this is something we will not allow. The whole legislation passed by the government is an expression of the system’s insanity. This is really the most failing government in the history of Israel.”

Liberman urged the court to strike down the law, or in the worst case scenario, to make it applicable only from the next government and added that his party would respect whatever ruling the court makes.

The hearing is being held after the Movement for the Quality of Government and Yisrael Beytenu petitioned the High Court to strike down the Incapacitation Law which was legislated by this government at the beginning of its term.

The law in question is an amendment to the Basic Law: Government and dictates that a prime minister could only be declared incapacitated in cases of mental or physical health issues that leave them unable to serve.

If the court rules to strike down the law, this wouldn’t mean that Netanyahu would be declared incapacitated. It would make the circumstances under which a prime minister could be declared incapacitated less strict. 

Israel Daily News – September 27, 2023

ILTV Israel News

In Historic First, Israeli Minister Makes Public Trip to Saudi Arabia

Andrew Bernard

Israel’s Tourism Minister Haim Katz on Tuesday arrived in Saudi Arabia in what his office described as the first-ever public visit by an Israeli minister to the kingdom.

Katz is attending the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) conference in Riyadh. A statement from the Tourism Ministry said that Katz would focus on meetings with Middle Eastern partners during the two-day event.

“Tourism is a bridge between nations,” Katz said in a statement. “Partnership in tourism issues has the potential to bring hearts together and foster economic prosperity. I will work to create collaborations to promote tourism and Israel’s foreign relations.”

The visit follows statements by both Israeli and Saudi leaders suggesting that a breakthrough agreement to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia might be close.

In an exclusive interview with The Algemeiner on Sunday, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan said that the two countries have “never been closer” to reaching a deal. That followed an interview that Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, gave to Fox News on Wednesday in which he said that “every day we get closer” to a deal. Bin Salman also confirmed that negotiations with the United States to broker an agreement were ongoing.

A potential Saudi normalization deal was also a major focus of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech last week to the UN General Assembly, where he touted the possibility of a “new Middle East“ with Israel at peace with its neighbors. Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen in turn predicted that the deal could be ready by the first quarter of 2024.

While the UNWTO conference is an international forum that gives Saudi Arabia deniability that the invitation to Katz signals a move toward normalization with Israel, such invitations were nonetheless a prelude to the Abraham Accords that normalized relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates in 2020. In 2015, Israel opened an office at the headquarters of the UN’s International Renewable Energy Agency in Abu Dhabi, and in 2019 the Jewish state confirmed its participation in the UAE’s Expo 2020, a full year before the announcement of the Abraham Accords.

Katz’s trip marks the first open visit by an Israeli minister to Saudi Arabia after years of never-confirmed media reports of secret visits between the two countries. Saudi Arabia denied that Mohammed Bin Salman traveled to Israel in 2017 and also denied that Netanyahu and Bin Salman held a secret meeting in Saudi Arabia in 2020, despite US and Israeli media reports saying that the meeting had occurred.

While Bin Salman has now said publicly that he is seeking a normalization deal with Israel in exchange for concessions from the United States, the Saudis have also indicated that they still seek concessions from Israel on the Palestinian issue.

In his address to the UN General Assembly on Saturday, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Faisal bin Furhan did not mention a potential normalization deal with Israel, calling instead for an independent Palestinian state.

And on Tuesday, the Palestinian Authority welcomed Saudi Arabia’s non-resident ambassador. It was the ambassador’s first visit to the West Bank, despite Saudi Arabia’s longstanding recognition of Palestinian statehood.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates welcomes the visit of the Saudi Ambassador to the State of Palestine and considers it a historic milestone for the development of fraternal relations between the two countries,” the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Gaza border-violence draws IAF strikes; Israel-Saudi peace ‘a matter of time’ TV7 Israel News 26.09

TV7 Israel News

What is Yom Kippur? The Jewish High Holiday

BimBam