Prime Minister Netanyahu does not withstand the pressure: appoints Gantz to Justice minister

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not withstand the pressure and crashes. He decided to appoint blue-and-white chairman Beni Gantz as justice minister in the transitional government - three hours before the High Court was due to discuss the appointment of Ophir Akunis to the post.

A statement from Netanyahu said the appointment would be approved by the government today. "The prime minister has submitted a detailed response to the Supreme Court that completely rejects the argument that yesterday's debate in the government was against the law," it said, "nevertheless, after the prime minister's compromise proposals were rejected this morning as well, "Justice, the prime minister has decided to appoint Bnei Gantz as justice minister in a transitional government." The prime minister will bring the appointment to the government's approval today. "
At 3:30 p.m., the High Court was due to convene and discuss the appointment of Akunis. Blue and white Bnei Gantz did not agree to appoint Akunis. A few hours after the government voted on the appointment, the High Court froze it until another decision was made on the matter.
Minutes before the announcement of Gantz's appointment, Netanyahu gave his response to the High Court before the hearing, in which he wrote that he had the authority to appoint a justice minister and that the court and the ombudsman "are not a super-government." In a reply on behalf of Netanyahu, Adv. David Peter wrote that Akunis' appointment as Minister of Justice was made lawfully. Which was received - and was lawfully received. "
Netanyahu also criticized the petitioners - who, according to him, on the one hand seek the appointment of a justice minister, and on the other hand seek to prevent the appointed appointment. "It is important to note the difficult result of connecting petitioners' claims to each other. On the one hand, a demand for the immediate appointment of ministers due to the urgent needs of the state There is an urgent need for the appointment of ministers and as if this remedy does not mean blocking the appointment of an essential minister and leading both the political and legal system to a dead end. "
The decision to freeze the appointment was made as part of the judges' hearings in the petition to appoint a justice minister, after the government did not appoint a minister within the 48 hours allotted to it. Mandelblit wrote yesterday that his position is that "there is no alternative but to oblige the government to appoint a justice minister without delay." Mandelblit added that "not appointing a justice minister immediately is extremely unreasonable." Netanyahu, for his part, asked for an additional 48 hours to reach an agreement with Ganz.
At yesterday's High Court hearing, President Esther Hayut said that due to the principle of continuity, the transitional government must act in accordance with the standards set for the regular government - so the Minister of Justice must have an affiliation with the Deputy Prime Minister. "I mean, the prime minister also agreed that when a minister's seat becomes vacant, he will be appointed according to the affiliations."
Ganz, Gideon Saar, Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid yesterday expressed resentment over Netanyahu's conduct in appointing Akunis as Minister of Justice. "The prime minister has tried to overthrow the rule of law in a planned and directed way," Ganz said. "Tried and failed."
Earlier this week, the High Court ruled that if he does not appoint a justice minister within 48 hours, he will discuss the issue himself. The petitioners - the Movement for Quality of Government and the Movement for Morality - asked the High Court to order permanent ministers instead of acting justice ministers, communications ministers, higher education , Water resources, social equality and science and technology, whose tenure has expired in recent weeks, without the appointment of permanent ministers in their place. Last week, President Hayut and Justices Handel and Vogelman criticized the state's representatives, saying that the governmental space created was "extremely unreasonable."