A fierce first confrontation in the background of yesterday’s murderous attack in Samaria. The tension with “Otzma Yehudit” may increase as the month of Ramadan approaches and with it the fear of riots and terrorist incidents. The Otzma Yehudit faction’s confiscation of the votes in the Knesset led to a sharp confrontation within the coalition and against the Likud.
Likud senior officials accused that the absence of Ben Gabir and “Otzma Yehudit” from today’s vote in the Knesset is “an irresponsible act against the right-wing government.” According to them, “when there is a vote of the left against the right-wing government – everyone stands up”.
In response, senior officials of Otzma Yehudit responded in an attack against Netanyahu: “The containment policy of Netanyahu and the Likud since the formation of the right-wing government is an irresponsible act. When there is terrorism by terrorists against Israelis – Israel should strike terror and not surrender to it.”
55 members of the Knesset supported the Prime Minister’s announcement at the end of the stormy debate initiated by the opposition against the legal protest, compared to 53 who opposed it. The fact that the coalition managed to prevail over the opposition almost by a single vote put pressure on the coalition’s senior officials.
Even before the debate, Itamar Ben Gabir’s Otzma Yehudit faction announced that it would boycott the debate in light of the fact that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Galant make decisions alone, and pursue an “inclusive” policy. Otzma Yehudit said: “This is not how partners in the government behave.”
This comes after it was made clear at a meeting of coalition faction leaders at noon that 40 signatures were required for the MKs to be present at the debate, half an hour later Otzma Yehudit announced that they were boycotting the debate. The chairman of the faction Yitzhak Kreuzer was not present at the meeting since he participated in a faction meeting of the party in Avitar.
During the debate, the Prime Minister commented on the events in Hawara and the attack on the Prime Minister: “With all the passion and passions, there is no place for anarchy. Nowhere. We will not accept a reality of a man doing what is right in his eyes. This is exactly what our enemies want to see, a loss of control and an endless cycle of blood, Fire and smoke changes. Our government is changing the rules, we are fighting terrorism by all means. Enacting a law to deport families of terrorists and promoting a death penalty law for terrorists, things that have not happened until now. There have been attacks and unfortunately there will be more attacks.”