Ministers unanimously approve a contested bill to recognize illegally built West Bank outposts, over the objections of the prime minister and attorney general.
The vote comes after Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked brought the legislation to a Ministerial Committee of Legislation vote after the leaders of the coalition parties and the prime minister failed to come to any agreements.
Ahead of the vote, Shaked was summoned to discuss the move with the party leaders and Netanyahu.
The talks were reportedly heated, with Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman accusing Bennett of imperiling the settlement movement as a whole.
The bill, which is designed to prevent the court-ordered demolition of the Amona outpost on December 25, gets the backing of seven ministers on the panel.
The approval means that the measure will now recieve coalition backing as it moves through the Knesset.
Families walk on a street in the Amona Jewish outpost in the West Bank, on July 28, 2016. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
The vote came Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit urged the ministers not to support the proposal, saying it would be indefensible in the High Court of Justice, and is against international law.
Reacting to the vote, Bennett hails the “historic process of regulating the settlements in Judea and Samaria.”
And he thanks the prime minister — who was opposed — and Likud ministers “for taking the responsibility required by a right-wing government and voting in favor of the national dream.”
The bill will likely be brought to its first reading on Wednesday.
— Marissa Newman
We can't do this work alone.
The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident – ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded – I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.
There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.
As a Times of Israel reporter, I’m committed to telling stories of resilience like Shilgit’s. But my colleagues and I can't do this alone. If you value work like this,please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to keep real human reporting like this going.
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
Sunday, November 13, 2016
