From the Liveblog of
Monday, January 22, 2024
No-confidence motion against Netanyahu falls, winning just 18 votes
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"
A no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu receives only 18 votes, failing by far to garner the necessary majority to pass in the 120-strong Knesset plenum.
The motion, brought by the Labor party, cited the government’s “failure” to secure the return of the 136 Israelis still believed to be held hostage in the Gaza Strip by Hamas.
Arguing in favor of the measure, Labor MK Efrat Rayten argues that “the basic duty of a state towards its citizens is to protect their lives and safety. There is and cannot be trust in a government that has failed so miserably” during and after Hamas’s October 7 attack.
Speaking on behalf of the government in the plenum, Likud Minister May Golan states that “the government as a responsible government does not cooperate with petty politics or any kind of politics during a war for the right to existence and security of the citizens of the country.”
The vote was boycotted by the coalition, the heads of which stated earlier today that they would “not take part in political shows during wartime.”
