The Knesset voted down the Yesh Atid party’s bill to nationalize Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund, as both the opposition and coalition clashed with the party’s leader, Yair Lapid.
Lapid had vowed to bring the bill to a vote after he withdrew Yesh Atid from the World Zionist Congress coalition agreements in November. KKL-JNF is owned by the WZC and acts as the purchaser and developer of lands in Israel.
Lapid cited systemic corruption “of the worst kind” as the reason for leaving. The move was triggered by attempts to appoint Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s son, Yair, to a high-paying position within the WZC.
The proposal to appoint the younger Netanyahu to the position came from Culture and Sport Minister Miki Zohar (Likud), who attended the Knesset session vote.
Zohar clashed with Lapid during the vote and defended the opposition The Democrats’ decision to remain in the WZC agreement.
“Look, look at Gilad Kariv [The Democrats]; he, for example, didn’t withdraw from the national institutions[...] That’s nice and perfectly fine,” Zohar said.
Lapid slammed Zohar in return and said, “Yesh Atid will not be a partner to corruption.”
KKL power struggle: Lapid blasts democrats for right-wing deal
After the vote, The Democrats released a statement defending its decision to stay in the agreements, asserting that “KKL is in our hands, the democratic-liberal camp.”
“We will not give it to the Netanyahu–[Finance Minister Bezalel] Smotrich government. We will not abandon any stronghold, give up any resource, or hand over power. This is a struggle for the state from within.”
Before the vote, Lapid addressed the Knesset, criticizing the WZC coalition deals, calling them “corrupt, broken, inefficient, and unnecessary.”
He claimed that despite past attempts by his party to stop corruption within these bodies, these efforts were “a drop in the ocean.”
“We are fighting together with the opposition, with liberal Diaspora Jewry, and with everyone for whom democracy matters, here and abroad,” Lapid said.
Lapid also accused the opposition parties of siding with the right-wing coalition parties by signing the agreement.
“Everyone who signed the new agreement at KKL and the national institutions from the so-called liberal camp, they are the new partners of Shas, of Smotrich and [National Missions Minister Orit] Strock, of Miki Zohar, of everything and everyone they claim to be fighting against.”
“If you want to argue otherwise, it’s easy! Publish the agreement. Why are you keeping it secret? What are you hiding? Publish the entire agreement, with all its appendices,” Lapid said.