Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs sent a letter this evening in response to the attorney general, after the latter demanded earlier today (Thursday) that the government be convened as usual.
Netanyahu at the Socio-Economic Cabinet Meeting// Roy Avraham /GPO, Sound: Ben Peretz /GPO
Fuchs wrote that Israel is in a state of war under the law, in which government decisions unrelated to the fighting do not come to a vote at all while urgent proposals reach a vote by telephone.
Earlier today, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara clarified to the Cabinet Secretary that the government must convene government meetings as usual and discuss decisions in an orderly manner.
Since the beginning of the war, there have been no regular government meetings in Jerusalem, except for security update meetings in the Kirya. In order to pass government decisions, Netanyahu used the telephone referendum tool through Fox, and dozens of decisions were approved.
Netanyahu and Smotrich in a socioeconomic cabinet. Decisions on the phone, photo: Photo: Haim Tzach / GPO
According to Fuchs, while the War Cabinet meets every day or two, the government meets once every two weeks to receive only security updates in the Kirya.
"I have not found a source that can negate the government's wartime authority to vote on emergency regulations over the phone. In my capacity as Cabinet Secretary, I must ensure that the government functions in accordance with the exceptional situation in which we find ourselves. For the good of the people of this country, this is not the time to tie the hands of the government with unnecessary legal shackles," Fox wrote.
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