Negotiation teams from Likud and Jewish Home met Monday to discuss the latter party’s requirements to joining a Likud-led coalition. 

Aside from ministerial requests, most of Jewish Home’s demands touched on legal issues and the advancement of particular pieces of legislation, while Likud representatives spoke mostly on behalf of requests from the haredi parties. 

Jewish Home stressed that any government it joins must re-promote legislation to help overcome limitations of the Basic Law. This would allow the Knesset to issue amendments to the law – even such amendments rejected by the High Court. 

This demand comes on the backdrop of the High Court’s rejection of an MK Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home) bill to prevent infiltrators from entering Israel. During the last Knesset, former justice minister Tzipi Livni brought an appeal against Shaked’s proposed amendment. 

Jewish Home also asked that representatives from their party be part of the committee to appoint High Court judges, as well the re-promotion of a law initiated by Shaked and Yariv Levin (Likud) in which the structure of the nominations committee be replaced. 

According to their proposal, the committee will be comprised of one High Court judge, one academic representative, and one retired district judge, instead of the current assemblage of three High Court judges. 

Representatives from the two right-wing parties also discussed promoting the Jewish State Law and Jewish Home’s demand that building freezes not occur in Judea and Samaria. 

Naftali Bennett’s party also required pushing forth an initiative to raise the salaries of combat soldiers in their third year of IDF service.