The ultra-orthodox parties have withdrawn the Gift Law from a first reading vote in the Knesset due to fears that it could lead to the Miron Law being overturned. The proposal would enable donations to be given for legal proceedings, allowing politicians to receive funding for various causes. Opposition leader Yair Lapid criticized the move and stated that the law was a corrupt measure that benefitted the personal interests of the coalition. Amendments made to the bill failed to convince critics, and it has attracted strong opposition from factions across the house. The Miron Law, which aims to give the police the tools to tackle public safety issues, was also scheduled for discussion but has been met with hundreds of reservations and filibusters from opposition parties.
After pressures in the coalition: The Gift Law will not be put to a first reading vote tomorrow (Thursday), after the ultra-orthodox parties asked to withdraw the bill due to fear that the Miron Law would be overturned with it. In fact, the proposal could allow Prime Minister Netanyahu to receive donations for his legal proceedings (and any politician would be allowed to receive donations and funding for a range of causes).
“There is no relationship between capital and government”: the gift law was approved in preliminary reading after a heated debate
Opposition leader Yair Lapid posted on his Twitter account: “The coalition should remove the corrupt gifts law not only from the agenda of this session, this law cannot be put to a vote in the Israeli Knesset. The time has come for them to start thinking about the citizens of Israel. Not the cost of living, not personal security, only their personal good.”
The coalition needs to remove the corrupt gifts law not only from the agenda of this session, this law cannot be put to a vote in the Israeli Knesset.
The time has come for them to start thinking about the citizens of Israel. No cost of living, no personal security, only their own good. https://t.co/fbdXnHLPlc
— Yair Lapid (@yairlapid) March 29, 2023
The chairman of the state camp faction, MK Ze’ev Elkin, responded: “I am glad that our threat worked and Netanyahu quickly folded. The coalition is removing the illusory gift law from the agenda. We will continue to fight together, all opposition factions, with all the parliamentary tools at our disposal, against The scandalous and corrupt legislation.”
In the version that was brought to the vote in the committee, changes were made that were supposed to reduce the ease with which a public representative could receive funding from the public, but the main thing still remains and this attracts sharp criticism from the opposition, which issued a statement on behalf of the chairmen of the factions, which read:
“The Likud party decided to bring up for discussion on Thursday in the Knesset committee the gift law for the first reading. The consequences of this are that there will be a vote on this next Sunday in the plenum. This means that despite the end of the winter conference and even though it is a holiday week, the Likud party decided to convene the plenum especially In favor of the corrupt and abominable law, which has the flavor of personal interest. It is not enough that the plenum does not meet on the week of the eve of Passover, except in exceptional cases, the members of the Knesset are supposed to vote on a law that could corrupt the entire public sector.
“We hereby announce that if it is decided to convene the plenum in favor of the gifts law on Sunday, all members of the Knesset will be required to attend the hearing. The Miron Law (2+3) approved for discussion in the plenum on the same day, due to the common desire of all factions of the house to give the police tools to manage the Miron incident and to prevent a danger to human life, will encounter hundreds of reservations and a filibuster into the night until Monday, instead of passing it by consensus for the sake of the citizens of Israel. We emphasize that we will not give up and the corrupt gifts law will encounter massive opposition from all opposition factions. We suggest that the coalition reconsider the matter and prevent the raising of the gifts law “.