The Knesset Arrangements Committee convenes to vote on several legislations pushed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud faction hours before his mandate to form a government expires at midnight Tuesday.
With the loss of the Mandate, Netanyahu will also lose control over the Arrangements Committee and his political opponents will then be able to promote laws that would block him from future bids to be the prime minister.
Meanwhile, the panel voted to fast-track a bill to authorize illegal settlement outposts in the West Bank. The legislation will be presented before the Knesset plenum vote Wednesday.
The committee also approved fast-tracking a bill that would allow a majority of lawmakers to override Supreme Court rulings.
The bill passed 17 to 15 after Gideon Saar's New Hope party said they will support the proposal.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a Knesset session convened to discuss last week's Mount Meron disaster
(Photo: Knesset Channel)
Likud Whip MK Miki Zohar, who remains at the head of the Knesset committee until midnight, postponed a vote to fast-track an amendment to the elections law so that a vote could be held separately on the identity of the next prime minister in case a new election is called after failing to must a majority to back the motion. Such a law could have significantly increased Netanyahu's chances of re-election.
Zohar also said he would also be advancing the death penalty for terrorists, a law which former Likud ally and Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman tabled four years ago but had not made it out of committee because of Likud's opposition.
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Likud Whip MK Miki Zohar speaking during a meeting of the Arrangements' committee last week
(Photo: Knesset Channel)
The efforts by Likud to advance the bills are seen as an attempt to cause rifts between the parties attempting to present an alternative coalition to Netanyahu's right-wing and religious bloc.
The so-called "coalition for change" was made up of Knesset factions that disagree on ideology but are united on the need to oust Netanyahu.
Likud chose to advance the legislation through the Arrangements Committee and not by tabling them in the plenum in order to expedite the legislative procedure.
Netanyahu was concentrating his efforts to prevent Bennett from joining his opponent's coalition should one be possible. The Yamina leader has consistently negotiated with Likud and the opposing camp and refused to commit himself to either side, despite publicly stating he prefers to see a right-wing government established.
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Yamina leader Naftali Bennett says Netanyahu insincere in overtures made to form coalition on Monday
(Photo: Yoav Dudkiewicz)
Opposition leader Yair Lapid, from the Yesh Atid Party, said he hoped that he will be tapped by President Reuven Rivlin to attempt to form a coalition if Netanyahu fails to do so by the midnight deadline.
Bennett is also vying for the mandate claiming more members of Knesset including the Likud and the ultra-Orthodox parties would support his efforts, but political observers say Rivlin is unlikely to grant the Yamina leader's wish because his party controls only seven seats in the parliament.