It should come as no surprise that the coalition is about to face another tense week. The current crisis, however, could result in the collapse of the government as early as next week.

At the center of the latest crisis is Justice Minister Gideon Saar, chair of the New Hope party. Until recently, Saar has been viewed as a moderate, capable of maintaining the delicate balance in the shaky coalition. His coalition partners are not so sure now that this is still the case.

Last month, Saar failed to obtain a majority within the coalition to renew regulations that extend Israeli criminal and some civil law to Israelis residing in the West Bank. These regulations were originally adopted by the Knesset in 1967, right after the Six-Day War, as emergency measures. Because of the sensitivity of the issue, Israel’s parliament never changed the emergency status of these regulations, which means they must be renewed every five years. The last time was in 2017. Thus, the regulations are set to expire at the end of June. Without them, Israelis living in settlements will come under the authority of the Israeli military authorities, much like Palestinians residing in West Bank Area C.

Until 2017, these regulations were extended routinely by every Israeli government, Right or Left. This time, however, the situation is different. The coalition is composed of a great variety of parties, including an Arab one. Furthermore, the coalition lost its Knesset majority in April. Right now, the Islamist Ra’am party and Arab Knesset Member Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi of Meretz are opposed to renewing the legislation, which they say provides tacit approval of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank.