Atty. Rotman: The law of Continuity bestows enough authority on transitional governments to apply sovereignty in Judea and Samaria and there is a practical way to do this.
Jurist and legal consultant for the Movement for Governance and Democracy Attorney Simha Rotman upholds the statement made by former Justice Minister MK Ayelet Shaked that a transitional government has the necessary authorities to carry out the application of sovereignty over Judea and Samaria.
He says that “there are limitations on paper and there are limitations in reality. The limitations in the law are almost nonexistent. There are very few irrelevant things such as ministerial appointments, but the law states that “an outgoing government will continue functioning until a new government is sworn in”, meaning that there is a principle of continuity and a government can take any step while continues to serve”.
Atty. Rotman made these remarks in an interview with Arutz 7, where he stated that “in the case of the application of sovereignty over parts of the Land of Israel, we must also learn from history and find a practical solution”. In this regard, Rotman mentions the first days of Israel as a well-known historical basis: “The government that applied sovereignty was a transitional government that was not elected, the Provisional People’s Council that was established before the elections, could determine what the borders of the state would be”.
He also noted what he defines as a practical solution. “It is possible to apply sovereignty by a resolution of government and to condition its execution on a vote in the Knesset and a majority of 61. After all, the Knesset was elected some time ago and it is not at the end of its days. It is a Knesset that received the confidence of the People twice in the past year”.
According to him, the argument that the authorities of a transitional government are limited is based on the gradual erosion of authorities from the duly elected political system, which the legal system has been carrying on for years, but in actuality, things are not essentially fixed and obligated by law at all.