Coalition Won’t Bring Racist Bills to Vote before End of 20th Knesset

The coalition and opposition agreed on Monday night, December 24 that, in light of the coalition’s decision to bring forward the general elections to April 9, until the pending dissolution of the 20th Knesset, only laws agreed upon by both sides will be brought to a vote before the parliamentary plenum.

Currently, the coalition is planning two days, next Monday and Tuesday, December 31 and January 1, during which there will be an intensive round of voting in the Knesset on a number of bills which it is sponsoring, before parliament is dissolved.

MK Dov Khenin

MK Dov Khenin (Photo: Wikipedia)

According to the agreement reached between the coalition and opposition, among the bills that will not be brought for a vote before the dissolution of the Knesset are:

  • One that would authorize the Culture Ministry to cut state funding to institutions seen as “disloyal to the state”;
  • A first reading of the proposed legislation authorizing the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of fatal terrorist acts and which was expected to have passed thanks to an agreement between the coalition and the far-right Yisrael Beiteinu;
  • A bill that would have permitted racist “acceptance committees” to determine membership in communities of up to 700 households rather than the current 400 now legally provided for.

MK Dov Khenin (Hadash – Joint List) told Haaretz: “I feel satisfaction in the fact that we have been able to prevent the coalition from bringing problematic right-wing bills to a vote next week.”

Khenin said the opposition has been waging “a war of attrition to postpone the vote on these bills week after week and our action proved itself. The coalition’s plan has failed. To those asking whether moving up the elections is good or bad, I say that at least from this perspective, something good has happened here.”