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Opposition to sit out Knesset debates on disputed bills following coalition pact
Israeli opposition factions yesterday announced that they had taken a joint decision not to attend debates and votes on three significant pieces of legislation this week after the coalition signed an agreement treating them all as one legislative package.
The three bills in question are the governance law, which would raise the electoral threshold from 2 to 3.25 percent, the law to draft ultra-Orthodox students into the military and legislation enshrining as a Basic Law that withdrawal from Israeli-held territory first be approved in a referendum. However, all are flagship policies of different coalition parties and are opposed to some degree by others. Coalition chairman and Likud MK Yariv Levin yesterday asked all coalition factions to sign an agreement to fully support all three bills, in an effort to stave off coalition tensions on individual legislation. In effect, such a measure almost guarantees their passage into law.
In response, leaders of opposition parties, including Labour’s Isaac Herzog, Shas’ Aryeh Deri, United Arab List – Ta’al’s Ahmed Tibi and United Torah Judaism’s Yaakov Litzman and Moshe Gafni met yesterday afternoon and agreed not to attend the debates and votes on all three items of legislation. A joint statement said, “Although the opposition is not homogenous, we are all united” and that, “The coalition is weak and hysterical and no one in it trusts their neighbour.” Herzog accused the government of “extreme and unusual steps” aimed at “silencing and preventing true discussion.” Likud Deputy Minister Ofir Akunis accused the opposition of being “childish.”
This morning, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein attempted to diffuse the situation and persuaded the coalition to agree to an additional day of debates on the bills. Edelstein said he had “insisted on pressing the coalition and prime minister to compromise” and now expected the opposition to drop its threat to boycott the debates. The Knesset is scheduled to begin debating the governance law this morning, followed by the other two bills this week.