Election prevention bill to come to vote on Wednesday
The bill's sponsor, MK Zvi Hauser, lamented that both Likud and Blue and White were telling their supporters how right they were instead of sitting together and reaching an agreement.
By GIL HOFFMANIsraeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Alternate Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Benny Gantz hold a press conference in Tel Aviv on July 27, 2020.(photo credit: TAL SHAHAR/POOL)
The state budget deadline extension bill received permission on Tuesday morning from the Knesset House Committee to come to its first vote in the Knesset plenum on Wednesday.Following a stormy debate, the bill received the permission in a 10 to four vote.The bill's sponsor, MK Zvi Hauser, lamented that both Likud and Blue and White were telling their supporters how right they were instead of sitting together and reaching an agreement on a new state budget."The only question about my bill is whether to punish the public by enabling elections that they don't want and would cost NIS 5 billion," Hauser said.The bill would postpone the deadline for passing a state budget from August 25 to December 3.Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz called upon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday to pass the bill into law within 24 hours.Speaking to his Blue and White faction meeting in the Knesset, Gantz praised Netanyahu for endorsing the initial readings of the extension bill late Sunday night. But he noted that Netanyahu did not commit to supporting the final readings and passing the bill into law.“Remove the threat of elections from the public agenda and instead of making them continue to panic, give the people the certainty, security and trust that they deserve,” Gantz said in a plea to the prime minister.Gantz’s associates said that if Netanyahu does not take steps toward passing the budget extension into law, “his bluff will be revealed” and helping Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid pass the so-called “Anti-Bibi bill” on Wednesday is still a possibility. The bill would prevent anyone indicted of serious crimes, including Netanyahu, from forming a government.Responding to Gantz, Netanyahu told his Likud faction that a new state budget could be passed not only within 24 hours but within 24 minutes. He said the Anti-Bibi bill belonged in Iran or North Korea and sources close to the prime minister said the legislation had zero chance of passing into law.“The only impact of Gantz voting for the bill would be that he would drag Israel to elections,” a source close to Netanyahu said.In a speech in the Knesset plenum, Lapid dared Gantz to support his bill.“Blue and White, he’s playing with you,” Lapid said. “Haven’t you had enough of being puppets? It’s a law that you’re signed on to. Your lawyer wrote it. If you want to preserve some of your dignity and still want to call yourselves honest, then come on Wednesday and vote for the law. Pass it and then maybe we can sit and talk about what we do next.”Gantz warned that going to a fourth election in 19 months during health and economic crises could cause a civil war.“Whoever loves Israel does not take it to elections at this time and whoever cares about Israel will not take steps that will bring about an economic collapse,” Gantz said. “Agreements that are not worth the paper they are written on are not real agreements. “Elections now would spit in the face of nine million Israeli citizens.”In a speech to a Union of Local Authorities conference on Monday, Netanyahu said a functioning government was necessary to combat the novel coronavirus as quickly as necessary.“When Hauser asked me to give stabilizing the government another chance to help fight the coronavirus, I said I am ready,” Netanyahu said. “I think every effort must be made to prevent elections, stabilize the government, fight corona and open the economy.”
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