The first of 60 planned speeches have begun in the Knesset plenum, ahead of a vote on the first reading of the controversial outpost regulation bill
Among the first to mount the podium is Likud MK Benny Begin who says he will again break ranks and vote against the outpost bill in its first reading this evening, as he did in the preliminary vote.
Begin says that the Jewish people have a natural right to all of the Land of Israel but that the bill will only damage Israel and the settlement project.
“This bill is not smart, responsible or stable, and that is why the government is still looking for other options,” he says. ” I can therefore not support it and will vote against it.”
On Tuesday, the chairman of the governing coalition suspended Begin from the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee a day after he twice voted against the preliminary version of the bill to recognize illegal West Bank settlement outposts built on privately owned Palestinian land.
After speaking, he is embraced by opposition lawmakers for his stance.
MK Benny Begin, in blue shirt, being surrounded by opposition MKs in the Knesset on December 7, 2016. (Raould Wootliff/Times of Israel)
— Raoul Wootliff
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