split into separate factions.
Ben Gabir and Smotrich (photo: Flash 90, official website)
The organizing committee today (Sunday) approved the request of the factions that make up the religious Zionist party to split, as was agreed upon when they were united during the election period.
According to the request, the party will split into three factions in the Knesset - religious Zionism, Otzma Yehudit and the chairman of the Noam party, Avi Maoz, as a single faction.
In the meantime, at least three weeks remain on Likud Chairman Binyamin Netanyahu's mandate clock, but Likud hopes this week to get out of the crisis in the coalition talks, and speed up the talks to form a new government. The main landmine that has delayed and delays the progress of the talks is the demand of the religious Zionist chairman, Bezalel Smotrich, who demands to be appointed to the Ministry of Finance, which is also demanded by Shas chairman Aryeh Deri, to whom Netanyahu gave priority in the selection of portfolios.
In Likud yesterday they started to push Deri and Smotrich into direct talks between them, in order to reach compromises and agreements that will allow progress in the negotiations.
Shas and religious Zionism are also in dispute over the Ministry of Religion, and it is not impossible that in exchange for giving up the Ministry of Finance - Smotrich will have to compromise on religion in favor of Deri.
In the last two weeks, Likud tried to push Smotrich into another portfolio, starting with education, justice, the interior, transportation and even the foreign ministry, as was first revealed in Vala on Friday.
Smotrich refused all of them, and remained steadfast in his demand to receive one of the portfolios - the treasury or the defense - which Netanyahu steadfastly refuses to give up.
At the end of the week, a proposal was made to appoint a minister from religious Zionism in the Ministry of Defense, with powers over the settlers and the Palestinians, but Smotrich refused this as well.
In an attempt to pressure him in negotiations, Netanyahu agreed last week with the chairman of Otzma Yehudit, Itamar Ben Gabir, on a series of commitments to outposts and settlements in the coalition agreements, designed to present Smotrich as someone who is not fighting for principles, but for jobs.
As published last week in Walla, Netanyahu initially set Wednesday as the new deadline for forming the government, but given the difficulties in the talks, his associates estimated yesterday that the deadline is not realistic and will be postponed until next week.
Given the deadlock in negotiations with Smotrich, Netanyahu also raised the possibility of forming a government in the first instance without him, with a majority of 57 Knesset members, but Ben Gvir made it clear that he did not intend to enter the government without his partner and publicly backed off his demand to receive the security portfolio. , Ben Gvir announced on Friday that he is splitting from the technical bloc with Smotrich, as was agreed between them during the elections, and the regulatory committee in the Knesset is expected to meet today to approve the split request, in the midst of the coalition negotiations.
The Noam faction, of MK Avi Maoz, is also expected to split today.
Two more issues will be on the agenda of the coalition forming this week: the legal difficulties in the appointment of Shas member Aryeh Deri as a minister and the election of the Knesset speaker.
The government's basic law prohibits the appointment of anyone convicted of crimes and sentenced to prison to be appointed a minister in the government, even if it is a suspended sentence, as Deri was sentenced to as part of a plea deal for tax offenses that he signed last year.
According to a report in News 12, Legal Adviser to the Government Gali Beharev Miara informed Netanyahu last week that he must contact the Chairman of the Central Election Commission to determine whether Deri's offense has defamation, which would prevent him from serving as minister for seven years. At the same time, the Shas are demanding an accelerated process , even before the swearing in of the government, an amendment to the basic law of the government that would allow Deri to be appointed as a minister in any case.
According to the proposal, submitted by MK Moshe Arbel of Shas, it will be clarified that only a person who has been sentenced to an actual prison sentence will not be able to be appointed to the position of minister, but if it is a suspended sentence - there will be no obstacle.
In order to promote the law that would allow Deri to be appointed as a minister even before the inauguration, the future coalition will first have to replace the Speaker of the Knesset, Miki Levy, with a person on its behalf. Likud initially planned to bring in a temporary chairman for a vote, until the distribution of the cases in the coalition negotiations is completed, but Now the party prefers to appoint a permanent chairman, as close as possible to the seven, in accordance with the final division of the cases. However, if the delays in the negotiations continue, the coalition is expected to advance the election of MK Yariv Levin as temporary chairman of the Knesset.
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