Israeli lawmakers on Thursday held a lengthy and fiery debate on legislation that would enable installing a minister within the Defense Ministry from the far-right Religious Zionism party to oversee West Bank construction.
Israeli media reported that Defense Minister Benny Gantz telling the special committee that if enacted, this would “break apart” clear chains of command and cause a “loss of security.”
Speaking to the special committee formed to prepare the bill, Gantz said that bifurcating the current command system by putting a second minister within the Defense Ministry in charge of defense-related matters would create “breakdowns.”
“This command system knows how to cope with a concrete operational need and make the necessary system of balances. When you violate the system of balances, you are coming out of an equilibrium that will divert the system from the system of balances that it needs to happen,” the defense minister told the committee, as quoted by The Times of Israel.
In addition to the concerns raised by Gantz and by soon-to-be opposition lawmakers who are former security officials regarding confusion of command, the bill also drew criticism from legal advisers who said it does not clearly delineate the responsibilities that will fall under the independent minister within the Defense Ministry, likely to be Religious Zionism party leader Bezalel Smotrich.
The bill was scheduled for another vote in the Knesset plenum Thursday evening, after it passed a preliminary reading earlier in the week.
Three votes, after the preliminary one, are required, each requiring the support of 61 lawmakers in the 120-member Knesset, since it is a change to the Zionist entity’s quasi-constitutional Basic Law: The Government.
Part of a legislative blitz demanded by far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties as preconditions to form Benjamin Netanyahu’s expected government, the bill will for the first time create a permanent mechanism for two ministers in a single ministry.
A previous second minister in the Defense Ministry, Gantz’s party colleague Michael Biton, was appointed in 2020-2021 through a temporary mechanism and was in charge of non-operational affairs.
The likely incoming coalition wants the bills to pass into law before the government is sworn in, with Netanyahu having until December 21 to declare he has cobbled together a coalition.
Source: Israeli media
