The legal advisor of the Knesset, Adv. Sagit Afik, published today (Wednesday) her opinion regarding the maritime agreement with Lebanon. According to her, it is proper and correct to bring agreements such as the agreement with Lebanon for the approval of the Knesset. She recommended that past precedents regarding agreements brought for the approval of the plenary should be taken seriously .
In an opinion she published, she wrote: “Under the circumstances of the specific maritime agreement – the question of the reasonableness of the government’s decision to accept the agreement is not placed before the Knesset’s legal counsel, nor do we have the reasons for the decision. However, in examining the reasonableness of its decision, weight must be given to the practice according to which important agreements are submitted for approval the Knesset, and it must be brought into consideration of all the considerations necessary for the matter.”
The Foreign Affairs and Security Committee of the Knesset will hold a discussion on the agreement with Lebanon today. Opposition leader Netanyahu was invited to participate in the committee – but did not respond to the requests. The message expected to be delivered to MKs is that there is importance and urgency in passing the agreement at this time, despite the elections.
In addition to this, tomorrow the High Court will discuss the petitions filed against the agreement and it will be broadcast live, after a news request here. The hearing is on four petitions and is allotted about three hours. Today, the Knesset and the government were supposed to give the judges their positions in preparation for the hearing, but only after the deadline set for delivering the responses did they request extend the hour.
Yesterday, it was reported on the Lebanese news website Al-Ahed that the ceremony for signing the maritime border agreement with Lebanon at the UN headquarters will not include a meeting of the two sides. According to the report, the meeting in Naqura next week will not be around a common table and there will not be a common picture. In addition, each side will sign another document, to avoid any aspect of normalization with Israel.
At the beginning of the week, the Deputy Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, Elias Bou Saab, estimated that the signing would take place on October 26 or October 27. UN officials told news here that inspections and arrangements had already begun to be made in the hall designated for the separate signing stage at the UN headquarters Ba-Nakura at the border.