The so-called “Elkin Law,” designed to get Construction and Housing Minister Ze’ev Elkin (New Hope) onto the Rabbinical Judges Selection Committee, passed in the Knesset early Wednesday, Israeli media reported. It was defeated in its third reading earlier this month.
The legislation seeks to add two appointees to the 11-member committee, including an extra minister, which would allow Elkin to join it.
When the bill was brought for a third reading two weeks ago, Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy (Yesh Atid) voted against it by accident, resulting in a tie vote and its defeat.
To revive it, the coalition needed to bring the bill back for a first reading once again, and it will now go to committee to continue the legislative process.
Several opposition MKs denounced the legislation from the Knesset podium for its overtly personal nature, being that it seeks to have one specific individual, Elkin, appointed to the committee.
“For years, the current coalition accused us of seeking to dole out jobs because we thought it was appropriate to allow a minister to bring his own team with him who would be committed to his success and that of the country,” said Likud MK Yariv Levin, a former Elkin ally.
“Now, in the height of impudence and hypocrisy, you are not only passing a special jobs law, increasing the committee and changing its makeup, but you are also doing it to create personal jobs,” he said. “This hypocrisy is disgraceful, and this law is shameful, and this a precedent that unfortunately, the State of Israel and Israeli citizens will pay for.”
Shas MK Yoav Ben-Tzur said trying to legislate it again was like a “fool returning to his folly.”
“No one dares touch the Rabbinical Judges Selection Committee or the Qadis [Islamic Judges Selection Committee] because, God forbid, what would happen,” he said. “But here, due to the whim of a specific man who wants to be on the committee, you are turning the world upside down.”
Intelligence Minister Elazar Stern (Yesh Atid) defended the law, saying it would bolster the standing of the rabbinical courts.
Elkin has repeatedly declined requests for an interview by The Jerusalem Post regarding the law and why it is so important to him to be on the committee.