Yashar party chairman Gadi Eisenkot is preparing to take control of key Knesset committees and posts as soon as the new Knesset is sworn in, even before coalition talks begin. One of his first steps is expected to be the creation of a special committee to pass a law setting up a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 massacre, Ynet reports.
Under the plan, the commission would be established by legislation passed in the Knesset rather than by a cabinet decision, letting Eisenkot’s camp move forward even if no government is formed. The parties opposed to Prime Minister Netanyahu are counting on the 67 seats they hold together to push the move through early in the Knesset’s term.
Alongside the inquiry committee, the bloc’s leaders have agreed to set up six to eight more special committees to amend legislation. Some of them would work to repeal laws passed as part of the judicial overhaul, while others would advance urgent bills that can pass with the bloc’s majority. “We need to use the parliamentary majority we have in the Knesset and start working,” Eisenkot said.
The bloc also plans to put its own representatives at the head of the Knesset’s two most powerful committees, the Finance Committee and the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. In addition, all of the current opposition parties are demanding that Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana be replaced, which requires the signatures of more than 61 lawmakers. A close associate of Eisenkot said the candidate for speaker will be chosen by agreement among the bloc’s parties, with a decision expected by Sunday.
Even so, the report notes that the special committees would have a very hard time achieving their real goals if no government is ultimately formed.
Coalition talks are set to be held at the Dan Accadia hotel in Herzliya, where the heads of the bloc’s parties, including Naftali Bennett and opposition leader Yair Lapid, met this week for the first time since the election. Eisenkot’s first step is to sign coalition agreements with three of the bloc’s parties, pledging that any minority government would be short-lived and serve only as a bridge to a broader coalition. Opposition is expected from Yisrael Beytenu, whose leader Avigdor Liberman has repeatedly said he will not sit with the Arab parties, warning that “a minority government will survive less than the change government that held for a year, and we’ll get a strong Netanyahu with 70 seats.”
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
