Liberman Puts Speaker, Comptroller and Term Limits Before Judicial-Law Repeal

Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman said on Sunday evening that replacing the Knesset speaker, appointing the state comptroller and limiting a prime minister to two terms should come before repealing the judicial-overhaul laws. His statement answered criticism from Democrats leader Yair Golan over the order in which a prospective government should act. Liberman presented four successive priorities for the new Knesset: first change the speaker, then appoint the comptroller, then legislate the two-term limit for the prime minister, and only afterward repeal the judicial legislation. He said this was the sequence he had advocated before the election campaign ended. Liberman said: “Anyone proposing a different set of priorities is simply an idiot.” Earlier in the evening, Golan challenged reports that Liberman wanted to delay repeal of the judicial laws. In his own statement, Golan linked that dispute to military conscription for Haredi men. He said Liberman could form a government with Benjamin Netanyahu if he wanted a government that would neither conscript Haredim nor repeal the laws. Golan’s statement quoted a report by journalist Michael Shemesh that Liberman was blocking repeal as the new Knesset convenes. Liberman’s subsequent response set out the steps he wanted taken before repeal.