MK Tally Gotliv, from the backbenches of the Likud, is something of an enigma.
In terms of her appearance, she is very easy to identify – both in real life and in the Eretz Nehederet satirical show. In public, she wears long-sleeved fancy-looking white blouses (most of which she claims to have purchased from Shein for NIS 40 apiece). She wears narrow, shortish black skirts and pointed black shoes. She has long, straight brown hair, with which she constantly fidgets. She wears long gold earrings and uses bright red and pink lipstick and nail polish, which do not necessarily match.
In public, her style is tight and frantic. Privately, at home, when she is with her autistic daughter, she is said to be extremely calm and collected. On the dance floor, where she used to do folk dancing every Thursday until October 7, 2023, she is said to move lightly, like a butterfly.
Last Monday, as I was randomly watching the plenum debates on the Knesset TV channel, I happened to come across Gotliv delivering a personal message. The message concerned her membership in a special Knesset committee, created in order to deal with Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi’s controversial communications bill. The special committee, which was created in order to bypass MK David Bitan’s Economic Affairs Committee because of Bitan’s objection to the bill, is also controversial.
Gotliv began by describing her record as an MK, admitting that she has legislated no laws since she was elected to the 25th Knesset in November 2022, has posed only three parliamentary questions to ministers, and has proposed no motions for the agenda (proposals to raise certain issues for debate in the plenum). In fact, she has laid 52 bills on the Knesset table, mostly on legal issues, but largely because she hasn’t had the backing of Justice Minister Yariv Levin, none of them passed preliminary reading, and most did not even get that far. Gotliv related that “when I shall be justice minister, perhaps my laws will get through.”
She explained that she views parliamentary questions as superfluous because the ministers deliver answers for which they are merely waiters (i.e., the answers are prepared by others). “If I want to ask a minister a question, I can simply walk up to him and ask... and if he will not answer, I shall find the way to deal with it.” As to motions for the agenda, or (alternatively) quick debates, “these too are a [useless] populist parliamentary tool.”
In fact, Gotliv pooh-poohed three of the main tools available to members of parliament in parliamentary democracies, designed to enable parliament to practice checks and balances vis-à-vis the executive branch.
Gotliv explained why she became an MK. “I came to the Knesset for a battle that had never taken place before. I came to the Knesset to uncover the government by officials... to prove the existence of the most terrible plot against members of the Right... The officials have castrated the ability of the government to make [senior personnel] appointments... From the moment I entered the Knesset, I have taunted the legal advisors, who prevent us from carrying out governability.”
Aggressive and boisterous court appearances
It should be noted that before being elected to the Knesset on the Likud ticket three years ago, Gotliv had served as a highly successful criminal lawyer. She was well known for her aggressive and boisterous court appearances and especially for defending men accused of rape or sexual abuse. Surprisingly, this part of her personal record has not prevented her from becoming one of the most popular Likud MKs among registered Likud members, while feminists within the population at large refuse to forgive her.
It is predicted that in the next primary election for the Likud list ahead of the elections for the 26th Knesset, Gotliv will be elected as one of the top candidates. Her boisterous and haggling appearances in both the Knesset plenum and committees are popular in Likud circles. So is her practice of turning up in courtrooms, including that of the High Court of Justice, where politically controversial trials are being held.
She doesn’t just come to show a presence but to make contentious remarks and use her parliamentary immunity to try to get away with conduct which would get any ordinary citizen into trouble. The judges have difficulty coping with her, while she frequently demonstrates contempt towards them, as she, like most of the Likud, does towards the Israeli legal system as a whole.
Gotliv is, in fact, a one-woman show and is viewed as a bit of an outsider in the Likud parliamentary group. She is said to be close to only two Likud MKs: Boaz Bismuth and Moshe Saada, who sit next to her in the plenum.
Gotliv will undoubtedly be a member of the next Knesset as well. However, whether she will fulfill her dream of becoming Justice Minister depends on whether Netanyahu will form the next government and whether he will favor her over Yariv Levin and other potential candidates for the job. Since Gotliv is not afraid of occasionally criticizing Netanyahu when she disagrees with him, and Netanyahu does not tolerate colleagues who are not completely loyal to him, she might have a problem. Last October, Gotliv criticized him on social media for his conduct vis-à-vis the leadership of the Supreme Court in general and Justice Yitzhak Amit, whom Levin and many others in the Likud refuse to recognize as president of the court, in particular.
Gotliv has another problem, which is that while she might be popular among registered Likud members, she is not necessarily popular with all of Likud’s political base and potential voters, despite her basically “correct” political positions. Statements she has made to the effect that “all the hostages who have returned were brainwashed by Hamas,” the pride she took in her refusal to send condolences to Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara after her husband’s death last June, and her praise of right-wingers who smashed MK Ayman Odeh’s car windows in Ness Ziona last July did not go down too well with many.
The fact that Gotliv is a highly intelligent, calculated woman, despite her frequently outlandish conduct, is undeniable. It will be interesting to see how far she will get, whether in government or (preferably) in opposition.
The writer has written journalistic and academic articles, as well as several books, on international relations, Zionism, Israeli politics, and parliamentarism. In the years 1994-2010, she worked in the Knesset Library and the Knesset Research and Information Center.