Petitioners Back in High Court Day After Defeat

The day after the High Court unanimously rejected their petitions to block the unity government from forming, The Movement for Quality Government was back on Thursday.

The watchdog group, acting on the Court’s stipulation that it reserved the authority to intervene after enabling bills were passed in the Knesset, sought to strike down the coalition agreement’s central provision for a rotation of the post of prime minister.

“We petitioned the High Court this morning to cancel the amendment to the Basic Law: The Government, which regulates the concept of an alternate prime minister in the deal between Likud and Blue and White,” the organization said in a statement on Thursday.

“This is a fundamental change in the system of governance of Israel’s democracy. The agreement tramples on Israel’s democratic system and represents unprecedented harm to the legislature’s independence,” it said, though Israel has had a rotating leadership before.

In 1984, a deal between Labor and Likud had Shimon Peres serving two years and then stepping aside for Yitzchak Shamir, similar to the arrangement made to allow Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu‏‏ serve for 18 months, to be followed automatically by Benny Gantz.