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
Discover Israel's most beloved poet
She died more than four decades ago, but Leah Goldberg remains a magnetic and enigmatic figure: Israel’s most beloved poet, a powerful woman who lived with her mother and never married, who reinvented herself from the ashes of World War I through her magical writing.
You can screen 'The Five Houses of Leah Goldberg' June 4-11. Join The Times of Israel Community today to support our work and watch this and other outstanding documentary films in our DocuNation series.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
