Israel President Rivlin improvises as Gantz refuses to share power with Netanyahu
by Jordan Hilger, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – Israeli President Reuven Rivlin has proposed a novel form of government to mitigate the power-sharing dispute between Benjamin Netanyahu and rival Benny Gantz.
Because Netanyahu reportedly agreed to and Gantz refused an arrangement in which each would serve as prime minister concurrently, Rivlin on Wednesday suggested expanding the legal powers of an interim prime minister to grant the position “full power” should Netanyahu be indicted.
“I offered both candidates the establishment of a paritetic government,” Rivlin explained, using a term from the Reformation that denoted Protestant and Catholic municipal power-sharing in Europe. “That would mean a government of equals in which neither bloc would have an advantage.”
A “paritetic government” appeared once in Israel after 1984 elections saw a stalemate between Shimon Peres’ Labor party and Yitzhak Shamir’s Likud that produced a government in which each party wielded veto power over the other.
Gantz’s expressed concern with sharing power with Netanyahu has been the possibility of the former Prime Minister suddenly getting indicted for corruption charges he vehemently denies, which Rivlin’s proposed change to the legal definition of interim prime minister may help to offset.