From the Liveblog of
Sunday, June 6, 2021
Bennett calls on Knesset speaker to set government swearing-in for Wednesday
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleRaoul Wootliff is a former Times of Israel political correspondent and Daily Briefing podcast producer.
Prime minister-designate Naftali Bennett calls on Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin to schedule a vote on the new government for Wednesday.
“That is what is appropriate and the authority is in your hands,” Bennett says during a public address from the Knesset.
“We know that Netanyahu is pressuring you to delay the vote, to postpone, to withdraw, in order to give more time to the hunt for defectors. This may be for Netanyahu’s good, but you know, Yariv, it’s not good for the state,” Bennett says.
“Release us from long days of poison, fire, and plumes of smoke,” he adds.
Levin, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, is expected to call the confidence vote for Monday, June 14.
By law, Levin has up to a week to schedule the vote for the new government from the time that it is announced that a candidate has succeeded in bringing together a coalition. Lapid made that announcement on Wednesday, but Levin is using a loophole that allows him to extend the deadline until the Knesset session on Monday.
The Times of Israel Community.