Battle for Knesset defense committee

For the past three weeks, the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee has been paralyzed. The parliament's most prestigious and most important committee, whose responsibilities include monitoring the defense establishment's operations -- including the Israel Defense Forces, the Mossad and the Shin Bet security agency -- is unable to do its job because of a disagreement between the coalition partners over who should be its chairperson.

Three weeks ago, Yisrael Beytenu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman, who served as the committee's chairman, was reinstated as the foreign minister and had to step down. The past three weeks, however, proved too short a time for the coalition factions to agree on his replacement.

If the committee in question was a somewhat secondary Knesset panel, this stalemate could be tolerated to a point, but that is not the case when it comes to the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. This committee -- mainly through its various subcommittees -- is the only body in the State of Israel to perform any real-time oversight over the defense establishment.

The state comptroller performs his own audits and reviews, but those are performed in retrospect and take months.

The absence of a committee chairperson prevents calling its monthly session, in which its members meet with the prime minister, the defense minister, the IDF chief of staff and the head of Military Intelligence. It also prevents calling the biannual meeting the forum is mandated to hold with the heads of the Shin Bet and the Mossad.

This situation also stalls the performance of the Intelligence Subcommittee, whose members review the various actions taken by the Shin Bet, the Mossad and Military Intelligence; as well as prevents any discussion on the defense budget.

Those unfamiliar with the work procedures of the Knesset might wonder why a temporary chairperson has not been named pending the election of a permanent committee head. Such a move is impractical since as the chairperson is privy to top-secret information, the law states that any temporary nomination must last at least three months.

Given the current situation, some in the Knesset are calling for a legislative change that would prevent a similar stalemate in the future.

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein noted last week that "this is an intolerable situation. If this issue is not resolved soon we will have to devise a course of action." Several MKs, including former Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin (Likud) and Nachman Shai (Labor) have urged Edelstein to do everything within his power to ensure the committee resumes its work. "The Knesset oversees the government's operations and it cannot leave such issues, over time, to political disagreements," Edelstein said.

The delay in naming a new Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairperson stems from the fact that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would like to name MK Tzachi Hanegbi (Likud-Beytenu) for the position -- Hanegbi is familiar with the role, as he headed the committee during the 17th and 18th Knesset terms -- but Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid would like to see his faction chairman, MK Ofer Shelah, assume the role.

The coalition partners have to forge a compromise to break this stalemate. One of the ideas being explored is a rotation between Hanegbi and Shelah, according to which each MK will chair the committee for one half of the Knesset's term.

This idea has its merits, but any other logical solution must also be taken into consideration, as long as this important position is filled by a worthy individual, and sooner rather than later. Any further delay will bring about a significant disruption in the Knesset's ability to oversee one of the most sensitive mechanisms in our lives.

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