The Israeli political arena has been in uproar for a while now over a bill proposal advanced by Likud member David Amsalem to grant immunity to sitting prime ministers, protecting them from police investigations and indictment while serving. On the night of Oct. 28, senior Likud ministers were shocked to hear media reports that David Bitan, chairman of the governing coalition, is planning to put Amsalem's proposed legislation, the so-called French Law, to a vote in the Ministerial Committee for Legislation. He made his decision despite an agreement reached a few days earlier to put the proposed legislation on hold. Apparently, the goal in passing it would be to afford Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a chance to avoid criminal investigations if he is elected to another term. If passed, the French Law, nicknamed after a similar provision in France, would not cover the current term.

HaBayit HaYehudi has already expressed its opposition to the bill. Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, chairman of Kulanu, announced that he would allow his Knesset members to vote according to their conscience. Meanwhile, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has issued a statement saying the proposed legislation would be a blow to the rule of law. It would therefore have appeared that the French Law was dead and buried.

It turns out that while Bitan was retreating from that piece of legislation, as Netanyahu's "fixer," he was promoting the "Bibi 2 Law," which would prohibit the police from releasing summaries of an investigation after an investigation is concluded. This toned-down version of the French Law would also be to Netanyahu's advantage in that even once the current police investigations into his possible corruption are concluded, the public would still not know whether there is an evidentiary basis for putting him on trial until the attorney general's office makes a decision on whether to indict. This would give Netanyahu the time he needs to run for re-election and win, according to the current polls. In other words, Netanyahu would form the next government.

Bitan's Saturday night surprise resulted in a coalition crisis, as anticipated. HaBayit HaYehudi leaders claimed his action violated an agreement with them not to bring the proposed law before the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, but Bitan has insisted that if the French Law is not put up for a vote, no other piece of coalition legislation will be brought before the committee either.