Otzma Yehudit Demands Key Ministries in Next Government

Otzma Yehudit party leader, Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, announced Tuesday that his party will demand the Security portfolio for himself and the Justice portfolio for MK Tali Gottlieb in the upcoming government.

Ben-Gvir presented a security plan that includes encouraging voluntary emigration from Gaza and Judea and Samaria, dismantling the concept of "containment" of Palestinian threats, disarming the Palestinian Authority, and arresting senior terror supporters. The plan also calls for revising open-fire regulations, providing backing for soldiers, increasing soldier salaries, offering free land to combat soldiers, altering the ethical code of Asa Kasher, and opening elite units, including Unit 8200, to the general population.

Gottlieb's legal plan, part of Otzma Yehudit's proposals, demands the dismissal of the Attorney General as a first step in forming the next government. It also proposes that Supreme Court justices be appointed only after a hearing in the Knesset Constitution Committee and approval by a two-thirds majority. The party suggests "returning the Supreme Court to its natural purpose" by reintroducing standing requirements and the principle that "not everything is justiciable," explicitly defining non-justiciable issues.

Further proposals include canceling the "candidate selection course," which Gottlieb claims is used to screen judges, and reforming the legal treatment of crime organizations and terrorists through harsher penalties and deterrence. The plan also addresses canceling the State Attorney's directive requiring prior approval to open criminal investigations for offenses like incitement and calls for disobedience.