Prime Minister Naftali Bennett intends to take revenge on the Likud for voting against the family reunification bill, which former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s party had supported for many years, by blocking new Likud-sponsored bills that coalition MKs themselves proposed in the past.
The Ministerial Committee on Legislation will consider legislation not sponsored by the government on Sunday, for the first time since Bennett’s government was formed.
The Likud has proposed many private member bills, including one proposed by MK Avi Dichter that would remove the citizenship of a terrorist who receives a stipend from the Palestinian Authority.
When the bill was proposed, 19 MKs in the current coalition cosponsored it, including current ministers in Yesh Atid, Yisrael Beytenu, Labor and New Hope, as well as coalition chairwoman Idit Silman (Yamina).
“Voting against removing the citizenship of a terrorist who receives a stipend from the PA is tantamount to supporting giving a salary to terrorists for the acts of terror they committed,” Dichter told The Jerusalem Post on Saturday night.
“If the 11 ministers and deputy ministers who signed the bill vote against it, I advise them to take down the mirrors in their homes, because they will not be able to look at themselves.”
The opposition led by the Likud doomed the family reunification bill, which failed to pass in a 59-to-59 tie vote on Tuesday morning. Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked vowed on Saturday night to pass the bill soon.
In an effort to pass future bills, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and Defense Minister Benny Gantz are reportedly working to reach broader agreements with the Joint List to vote for key legislation from outside the coalition.
The exodus from the Knesset of ministers continued on Saturday, when Regional Cooperation Minister Esawi Frej (Meretz) announced that he will resign from the parliament this week under the Norwegian Law.
The law, which was expanded on Wednesday, allows ministers to quit the Knesset and be replaced by the next candidate on their party’s list and return at their expense if they leave the cabinet.
Frej will be replaced by Ali Salalha, a school principal in the Druze village of Beit Jann.