Coalition pulls Otzma Yehudit bills from Knesset agenda over its legislative revolt
Coalition whip says legislation proposed by far-right MKs who vote against government ‘will not receive the coalition’s support and will not be on the agenda’
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Legislation sponsored by the coalition’s far-right Otzma Yehudit will be removed from the Knesset agenda due to the party’s pledge to continue voting against the government, coalition whip Ofir Katz announced on Sunday.
In a statement, Katz declared that “until further notice, bills by Otzma Yehudit members who voted against coalition discipline will not receive the coalition’s support and will not be on the agenda.”
Government bills supported by party chairman Itamar Ben Gvir’s National Security Ministry “will be examined on their merits, and only urgent bills that concern state security will be passed,” he added.
Otzma Yehudit has been voting against the coalition since mid-December, with Ben Gvir threatening not to submit to coalition discipline until cuts to his ministry are rescinded and action is taken to fire Attorney General Gali-Baharav Miara.
Ben Gvir’s revolt forced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to leave his hospital bed after surgery to cast a crucial vote for a budget-related bill. Likud MK Boaz Bismuth was forced to come in as well in the midst of the seven-day Jewish mourning period for his late mother.
The law, which passed 59-58 with Netanyahu casting the decisive vote, allows the government to tax “trapped profits,” which are defined as gains earned by corporations and multinationals that are not distributed as dividends to shareholders but reinvested in business development, infrastructure, and research and development centers. Until now, such earnings were tax-exempt to encourage investment.
While Netanyahu is widely believed to be unlikely to sack Ben Gvir, associates of the prime minister last week told Channel 12 that the premier will treat his ostensible ally as a political opponent who is expected to eventually leave the coalition.
In a statement on Saturday night, Ben Gvir apologized for not having offered offsets to Netanyahu and Bismuth during last week’s vote, but insisted that Otzma Yehudit will “continue to vote according to our principles” until his budgetary demands are met. He also said that he would offer an offset to Netanyahu until he is fully recovered.
Responding to Ben Gvir’s apology, Katz said on Sunday that it was “unthinkable” that Otzma Yehudit “would issue an apology and in the same breath promise to continue disrupting the coalition’s work.”
Hitting back at Katz, Otzma Yehudit countered that its “ideology has been to never shy away from ‘punishments’ [from the coalition]” and promised to “continue to fight fearlessly for the people of Israel.”
Asked about Katz’s announcement, Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech told The Times of Israel that she regretted the fact “that due to a discriminatory political vendetta, the right-wing government is choosing to block legislation that benefits all citizens of Israel.”
Ben Gvir has a history of threatening his coalition partners and boycotting votes to advance his political and policy goals.
Last January, he threatened the stability of the coalition over open-fire rules for IDF soldiers in the Gaza Strip, only a month after he threatened to bolt the coalition over the government’s handling of the war against Hamas at the time, asserting that he would leave if the military offensive did not “continue at full strength.”
In April, he tweeted that a “reckless [hostage release] deal means the dissolution of the government,” while in June, his party announced that it would stop voting with the coalition in order to force Netanyahu to disclose details of an Israeli proposal for a Gaza deal.
