New Israeli Govt. Votes Down First No-Confidence Motions

By: Aryeh Savir

The new coalition, led by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, faced and voted down the first no-confidence motions presented by the opposition factions, only a week after the coalition was formed.

In a very late and very heated session on Monday night, the motion introduced by the Likud, entitled “A Government formed through lies and fraud, which has no mandate from the public,” was rejected by a 60-49 majority.

The motion asserted that the new government was formed in an immoral fashion and through deception and with the use of fraudulent methods.

The motion introduced by the Shas and United Torah Judaism parliamentary groups, entitled “The Government’s intention to erase the state’s Jewish identity,” was rejected by a 59-50 majority. This motion accused the new government of working to erase Israel’s Jewish character.

Minister Ze’ev Elkin, who serves as the Liaison between the Knesset and the Government, told Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu that he has “become illegitimate, but that does not make this Government, the MKs who are a majority in this House who voted for it, and the citizens who voted for these parties—illegitimate.”

“Mr. Leader of the Opposition, the time has come for you to start recognizing reality, to respect the choice of the voters and of the Knesset, and to understand that this time the people decided differently, and that your status has changed. After 12 years of serving as Prime Minister, you have become a legitimate Leader of the Opposition,” he asserted.

Netanyahu asked to deliver a personal statement in response, and said that Elkin “proved the old rule, that when you have no real argument to make, raise your voice.”

“Everyone knows to what extent the previous speaker cares about the country, and to what extent he cares about himself. He skips with alarming ease from one party to the next and then to the next,” he noted. Elkin is currently serving in his third political party.

“The problem is not whether the Government is legitimate; the problem with this Government is that it is dangerous, and so we will topple it much sooner than you think,” said Netanyahu.

The opposition has vowed to topple the government with all available means, and as soon as possible.

            (TPS)