Background: Smutrich ambushes Netanyahu, Court and Gantz by proposing
special procedure for annexing Jordan Valley
Dr. Aaron Lerner 22 January, 2020

Minister Bezalel Smutrich has proposed that the government exercise its
authority to apply Israeli law to the Jordan Valley and other areas (for the
sake of brevity I will call it "annexation") with that decision conditioned
on the Knesset approving the order which implements the decision.

#1. Making the government decision subject to the approval of the recently
elected Knesset dramatically weakens the argument that the Supreme Court
should void the move since it was made by a transitional government.

#2. The Knesset action is a single vote rather than a legislative process
with a myriad of steps - each of which provides an opportunity for
perpetually postponing completion of the process. Making the Knesset action
approval of an order rather than legislation also avoids the Achilles Heel
facing quick legislation: exposure to application of the Supreme Court
ruling which voided the "third apartment tax" because the committee which
processed the law failed to sufficiently consider the law before sending it
to the Knesset for approval.

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