Attorney General Menachem Mazuz
Photo: Knesset channel
Mazuz snubs Knesset
Attorney general says Egyptian deployment on Gaza border does not require Knesset approval
JERUSALEM - There is no need to first get Knesset approval to change the terms of the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty of 1979 in order to allow for an Egyptian force to patrol the Philadelphi route on the Egypt-Gaza border, Attorney General Menachem Mazuz said Thursday.
Notably, the treaty calls for the demilitarization of the Sinai Peninsula.
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Knesset reaction
Knesset Chairman Reuven Rivlin (Likud) said in response, “When the government can operate without the assent of the Knesset, the Knesset is allowed to ask the government not to commit the country to something the Knesset opposes.”
On Monday, Rivlin plans to call for a full Knesset debate on whether the deployment of Egyptian border guards along the Philadelphi corridor requires legislative approval.
Knesset Member Yuval Steinitz (Likud), the head of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, is one of the major opponents of Egyptian entry into Gaza.
Steinitz said that Mazuz’s decision “delivered a heavy blow to parliamentary democracy in Israel, and at first glance it’s outrageous.”
He warned that the decision might be a precedent for sidelining the Knesset on issues of peace treaties with Arab countries.
