Former prime minister and Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out against the coalition on Monday a day after it successfully pushed a bill through a Knesset committee that would limit a prime minister to only eight years in office, denouncing it as "Iranian" in a speech to a meeting of his Likud faction.
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"The government's polls numbers are tanking, and the opposition's are rising," Netanyahu told fellow lawmakers. "So what do they do? They have tried to pass an Iranian-style law that would create a situation in which they would stay in power even if someone else wins an election."
This kind of law "does not exist in any parliamentary democracy," added the former prime minister. "In a democracy, the public gets to elect its leaders, not some arbitrary law."
The speech came a day after the Knesset Ministerial Committee for Legislation voted unanimously in favor of the bill. It must now pass several other Knesset votes in the plenum before becoming law. The bill seeks to limit a prime minister to two four-year terms and includes non-consecutive terms if less than three years separate them.
Justice Minister Gideon Sa'ar, who initiated the bill, tweeted: "Term limits (as opposed to unlimited terms) are a key principle underpinning the idea that the government must work for the benefit of the citizens, instead of for its own benefit and survival."
He added: "We will continue to strengthen Israel as a Jewish and democratic state."
Opponents of the bill charge that it was designed to specifically target Netanyahu, who served as prime minister for more than 12 years. But the bill, in its current language, would not apply retroactively. The Likud also released a statement condemning any attempt to impose term limits, whether aimed at Netanyahu or not.
"Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects a law restricting any tenure, whether it applies to him or not. Parliamentary democracies do not restrict the tenure of prime ministers but leave to the public the decision to choose in free elections who will continue to lead it every time," said the Likud.
"Germany has repeatedly elected Chancellors [Helmut] Kohl and [Angela] Merkel to 16-year terms, and so have Canadian citizens, who elected Pierre Trudeau to a 15-year term. No one thought Canada and Germany were not exemplary democracies. The attempt of those who do not pass the electoral threshold to restrict the public's choice as to who will lead it is clearly anti-democratic," said the statement.
JNS.org contributed to this report
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