Eisenkot Bloc Files Bills for Oct. 7 State Inquiry, PM Term Limits and Judicial Overhaul Rollback

Status: Parties in Gadi Eisenkot's bloc filed a package of bills on Tuesday, the opening day of the 26th Knesset. The proposals, reported by the Times of Israel, Ynet, and i24NEWS, are only at the first stage of the legislative process and would need several Knesset votes to become law. The filing comes as the new Knesset was sworn in Tuesday, with no coalition yet formed and a speaker vote set for Nov. 17.

Yashar, Eisenkot's party, and other factions submitted eight bills, Ynet and i24NEWS report, including a proposal to establish a state commission of inquiry into the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre and a bill to impose term limits on the prime minister. Six of the bills would repeal laws enacted by the outgoing Netanyahu government as part of its judicial overhaul and related institutional changes. Ynet and i24NEWS said those repeal targets include legislation that changed the status and powers of the attorney general; amendments to Basic Law: The Judiciary and the Courts Law, including judicial-selection changes; broadcasting legislation; the rules governing when a prime minister can be declared incapacitated; and Amendment 45 to the Police Ordinance, which concerns the Police Internal Investigations Department. The Times of Israel similarly reported that Yashar and Yair Golan's Democrats submitted proposals to repeal the law eroding the attorney general's powers, the judicial selection committee law, and Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi's media overhaul, and that Yashar submitted a proposal on incapacity rules.

i24NEWS noted that, under the existing framework, a state commission of inquiry can be established by the government or, in specified circumstances, by the Knesset's State Audit Committee, and that its chair and members are appointed by the president of the Supreme Court. Ynet reported that the bloc is also considering legislation that would allow the Knesset itself to establish such a commission without a government decision, with one option under discussion requiring the support of at least 61 lawmakers. That measure is under consideration; Ynet did not report that it has already been filed in final form.

Yair Lapid, whom Ynet identified as the outgoing opposition leader and No. 2 in Naftali Bennett's Beyachad party, filed his own bills: an eight-year limit on a prime minister's tenure, a bill to anchor Israel's Declaration of Independence in a Basic Law intended to serve as the first chapter of a future constitution, and a civil-partnership framework that would allow couples, regardless of sexual orientation, to register a relationship outside the religious marriage system, Ynet reported. "We will continue to be the voice of Israel's liberal public in the Knesset and work to repair the State of Israel," Lapid said, according to Ynet. Ynet noted that an eight-year term-limit proposal advanced during the Bennett-Lapid government passed a first reading but was never completed.

Ynet reported that the bills are only at the beginning of the legislative process. Private members' bills must pass a preliminary reading, followed by three additional readings and committee debates, and opponents can use parliamentary procedures to slow their progress. The Times of Israel, Ynet, and i24NEWS reports did not include a formal response from Likud or the outgoing coalition.

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