The night a sleepy opposition crowned Jewish Home MK Smotrich ‘prime minister’

There was little tumult or theatrics in the plenum during Wednesday’s first reading of the so-called Regulation Bill to legalize unauthorized West Bank construction. None of the table-banging, dramatic legislation-tearing or unbridled screaming that featured just two days earlier, when parliament approved the bill in its preliminary reading.

Perhaps that’s because Wednesday’s debate lasted over four hours, with over 60 lawmakers pontificating. Or perhaps, with just scattered jeers and interjections, the opposition just didn’t have much fight left.

The hall was mostly empty for the bulk of the evening, with at times no more than two coalition MKs present and half a dozen from the opposition. As it opened, a grim Benny Begin — the sole coalition lawmaker to oppose the bill — sat alone. Joint (Arab) List leader Ayman Odeh appeared bored as the legislation began its next journey through the parliamentary pipeline, where it must still pass two more readings and be upheld by the High Court — deemed unlikely — if it is to become law.

By contrast, two of the bill’s sponsors, Jewish Home MKs Shuli Moalem-Refaeli and Betzalel Smotrich, were decked out in festive wear, he donning a suit and tie; she, crowned in a gold hat, with matching gold hoop earrings.

“Congratulations to the acting prime minister, Betzalel Smotrich,” taunted Yesh Atid MK Karin Elharar during her three-minute speech, noting that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the past vociferously opposed the bill and crediting Smotrich with bringing the legislation front-and-center.

Smotrich, at this point, was nowhere to be seen. But no matter — Zionist Union MKs Michal Biran and Hilik Bar would make nearly the identical laudatory claim later in his presence, mirroring the overall tone of the evening debate: repetition, repetition, repetition, tired arguments, and — from the looks of the yawns, slumped heads, sleepy nods and muted responses — lawmakers that are even more tired.

You know how when you repeat something over and over again, “the statement sort of loses its meaning?” opposition whip Merav Michaeli reflected somberly when it was her turn to speak. As “true” as our criticism of the last three governments has been, “from repeating it over and over and over again, it’s turned into a sort of cliché,” she lamented. In a subsequent attempt to override the “cliché,” Michaeli tried to describe the legislation differently. “It’s a really, really, really thick red line,” she said.

Thou shalt not steal vs. Greater Israel

The lethargy that would characterize much of the hours-long debate was absent when the sessions began and Moaelem-Refaeli sparred intermittently with Meretz MK Tamar Zandberg and Joint (Arab) List Dov Hanin.

“You cannot steal something that belongs to you,” she maintained, as Hanin cried out ‘Thou shalt not steal’ and declared that the biblical Abraham paid for the land.

The same Bible that says one mustn’t steal says the land belongs to the Jews, she replied. “Abraham the patriarch is our model — we also want to buy with money,” she said, referring to the compensation provisions for Palestinian land-owners whose properties were appropriated for construction.

But when Smotrich took the podium, the weariness set in and Zionist Union MK Yoel Hasson let out a sigh. “What haven’t you already said?” he asked.

‘A settlement is a settlement’

The debate also saw the unlikely duo of Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely and Joint (Arab) List Ahmad Tibi agree on something, albeit from the opposite angle: Both contended in their arguments for and against the bill that, outside the coalition, the distinction between an illegal outpost and settlement dissolves.

The global opposition to the Regulation Bill has nothing to do with the outposts, maintained Hotovely, defending the bill. “What bothers them about Israel is not regulating the settlements — it’s the settlement enterprise,” the deputy foreign minister said.

“There are those in Israel who try to distinguish between settlements, settlement blocs and outposts,” Tibi later said. “I say there is no difference. A settlement is a settlement,” and is illegal under international law and a “war crime,” he said.

Benny Begin, leader of the opposition?

As Smotrich was crowned Israel’s prime minister by members of the opposition, who met the obdurate Begin with congratulations. And a quote by his equally headstrong father, the late prime minister Menachem, that there will be “many Elon Morehs” — referring to the 1980 relocation of a West Bank settlement by court order — peppered the speeches of numerous opposition lawmakers.

Taking the podium, Begin gruffly reaffirmed Israel’s “natural and eternal right” to all territory west of the Jordan River. “Ours is Samaria and the Galilee. Ours is the Negev and Judea,” he said. The settlement of the West Bank is “a glorious chapter in the history of the return to Zion in the new era.”

But the Regulation Bill is not “responsible” or “wise” and is “harmful to Israel,” Begin insisted, announcing that he would, once again, vote against it despite the likely punitive measures by the coalition.

Wrapping up his speech, Begin was met with an appreciative bang on the table from Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid. “Don’t agree but respect,” Lapid said, as he — and half a dozen lawmakers — got up to shake Begin’s hand.

Meandering over from the coalition seats, a grinning Likud MK Yehudah Glick pulled Begin in for a hug: “I don’t agree with a single word,” he said.