Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government yesterday survived an opposition bid to dissolve parliament, as lawmakers rejected a bill that could have paved the way for snap elections.
Out of the Knesset’s 120 members, 61 voted against the proposal, with 53 in favor.
The opposition had introduced the bill hoping to force elections with the help of parties in the governing coalition angry at Netanyahu over the issue of exemptions from military service for people in orthodox communities.
Photo: Reuters
However, the results of the vote showed that most lawmakers in Netanyahu’s camp ultimately did not back the opposition bill, with just a small number voting in favor.
The opposition has to wait six months before it can try again.
Before the vote, Yuli Edelstein, a lawmaker from Netanyahu’s Likud party, announced that after lengthy discussions, parties had agreed on the “principles on which the draft conscription law will be based.”
Edelstein, who chairs the foreign affairs and defense committee, did not specify the terms of the agreement.
“As I said all along — only a real, effective bill that leads to an expansion of the [Israeli military’s] recruitment base will emerge from the committee I chair,” he wrote on social media.
“This is historic news, and we are on the path to real reform in Israeli society and strengthening the security of the State of Israel,” he added.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid said that the government was seeing the beginning of the end with the result.
“When coalitions begin to fall apart, they fall apart. It started and this is what it looks like when a government begins to collapse,” he said.
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