Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering forming a new “consultation and updating forum” that would include National Security Minister MK Itamar Ben-Gvir, in exchange for the latter’s Otzma Yehudit party’s support for a bill important to Netanyahu’s key political ally, Shas MK Arye Deri, the prime minister’s office confirmed on Tuesday.
Following an initial report about negotiations over the new forum, the prime minister’s office said that “the war’s management is conducted by the prime minister, defense minister, and security bodies, and significant decisions are made by the entire National Security Cabinet – this has not changed and will not change. What is being discussed is the possibility of forming a ‘consultation and updating forum’ that will not replace the existing bodies nor reduce their authorities.”
In early July, Ben-Gvir conditioned his support for the bill on becoming a part of a war cabinet that is directly responsible for making war decisions.
Ben-Gvir, along with fellow far-right minister Bezalel Smotrich, demanded throughout the war to join the war cabinet but the demand increased in volume after the previous war cabinet disintegrated due to MK Benny Gantz’s National Unity Party’s departure from the government in June. The prime minister meanwhile has been running the war based on ad-hoc “security assessments.”
The Shas bill is a watered-down version of a bill known as the “Rabbis Bill.” The bill stipulates that the government can create and fund religious service jobs in municipalities and regional councils, in addition to jobs provided by the municipality itself.
Shas has said that the bill’s purpose is to increase and improve religious services, but opponents of the bill have argued that its real intention is to enable Shas, which controls the Religious Affairs Ministry, to appoint an unlimited number of its members to government-paying jobs.
The alleged deal between Ben-Gvir and Deri is one of a number of other legislative deals being cut just before the Knesset recesses for three months on Sunday.
Kosher cell phone bill
Another such deal was reportedly reached between Ben-Gvir and the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties, whereby he would support a controversial bill known as the “Kosher Cell Phone” bill, in exchange for haredi support to place under Ben-Gvir’s jurisdiction a law enforcement agency called the National Unit for Enforcing Planning and Construction Laws.
The Kosher Cell Phone bill would enable a rabbinic council the power to track their constituents’ religious observance level by earmarking a swath of cell phone numbers as belonging to “kosher phones” (i.e. without internet capability).
The National Unit for Enforcing Planning and Construction Laws, currently under the Finance Ministry, was formed in 2017 as part of a law known as the Kamenetz Law, whose purpose was to tighten enforcement of illegal construction, especially in the Arab sector. The unit has the authority to hand out fines and other sanctions for construction violators. Ben-Gvir has promoted stricter enforcement against construction violations, especially amongst Bedouin nomads in the South, and having the unit under his auspices will give him more power in that regard.
The Israeli-Arab parties are strongly opposed to Ben-Gvir taking over the unit and are also operating behind the scenes in an attempt to thwart the move.
Later, the Otzma Yehudit party released a statement, saying: "In response to inquiries from journalists, we would like to clarify that negotiations between Otzma Yehudit and Likud regarding the inclusion of Minister Ben-Gvir in a smaller forum are still ongoing, and no agreements have been reached yet. We also emphasize that Minister Ben-Gvir's demand to join a forum that will play a role in shaping policy and establishing strategic principles concerning the war remains unchanged."