Netanyahu checkmates Likud rivals, again
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing an amendment to the Basic Law on the government to ensure that President Reuven Rivlin cannot ask a Likud rival to form the next government.
Israeli media reported this week that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had obtained the support of his coalition partners for a bill that would limit the powers of the president after the next elections. The legislation proposes that only a Knesset member who is also head of his or her party can be tasked by the president with forming a government.
A senior Likud source speaking on the condition of anonymity told Al-Monitor on Nov. 5, “Netanyahu will announce early elections only after the ‘Gideon Saar Law’ passes the second and third readings. He’s going for it full force.”
