Knesset speaker proposes compromise to resolve fight over lockdown, fines

Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin (Likud) suggests extending the nationwide lockdown by a single day, until Monday, to buy the government more time to pass a law hiking fines against violators.

Blue and White is refusing to extend the nationwide closure until the law raising the penalties is passed by the Knesset.

Then-tourism minister Yariv Levin at the Kfar Maccabia Hotel in Ramat Gan, on October 27, 2019. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

Levin criticizes Blue and White’s conduct but offers a compromise.

“They [Blue and White] fear we’ll trick them and the [fines] law won’t be brought to a vote. Therefore, I suggested we try to reach an understanding, since the lockdown ends on Sunday. The government should extend the lockdown by one day and on Monday we will gather to pass the law,” he says, according to the Kan public broadcaster.

Levin says the government would then convene again to extend the lockdown further.

The move to raise the fines is opposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ultra-Orthodox allies. Many institutions in Haredi society have continued to operate throughout the lockdown, angering critics who say that the current level of enforcement isn’t enough.