From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, December 31, 2024
Coalition votes down multiple amendments submitted by opposition on key budget bill
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"
In a series of back-to-back votes in the Knesset plenum, the coalition defeats multiple opposition amendments to the Trapped Profits Law, a critical budget bill.
Itamar Ben Gvir is among those voting with the opposition.
Ben Gvir and his far-right Otzma Yehudit party, and the ultra-Orthodox Agudat Yisrael faction of the United Torah Judaism party, have threatened since yesterday to oppose the Trapped Profits Law, insisting their demands be met first.
In a statement before the votes, Otzma Yehudit said that while it would still oppose the bill itself in its second and third readings, its lawmakers would refrain from helping the opposition pass its amendments to the bill.
According to reports, associates of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who left the hospital following prostate surgery to attend the vote, have been in contact with members of Agudat Yisrael and leading ultra-Orthodox rabbis in an attempt to bring the UTJ faction around.
The Times of Israel Community.