Hours after the new right-wing and neo-liberal government was sworn in Monday, Israel’s opposition members announced an emergency meeting called by Hadash, on Tuesday aimed at battling dangerous new legislation expected to be passed by the nascent coalition.
An invitation sent to opposition MKs said the new government “is starting out with a series of dangerous anti-democratic moves.” The letter cited the raising of the minimum threshold for parties in national elections from 2% to 4%, the demand for a special 65-MK vote to topple a sitting government, and the re-submission of several anti-democratic bills as signs indicating where the new coalition is headed.
Emergency meeting in the Knesset on Tuesday. From right to left: MK’s Muhammad Barakeh, Moshe Gafni, Dov Khenin, Reuven Rivlin and Nachman Shai (Photo: Hadash)
“Increasing the threshold for parties to 4% endangers democracy. It is not the small parties who threaten the stability of the political system, it is not the small parties that hold corrupt primary races, and it is not the small parties who bring in people void of ideology and principals,” said Hadash MK Dov Khenin. “The ‘new politics’ embodied by [Naftali] Bennett and [Yair] Lapid is a politics of bullying and oppressing of minorities.”
“Joint action by the opposition on the government’ first day in power is a good sign as to our ability to produce a joint agenda and battle for Israel’s democracy,” MK Khenin added.
“We will not allow the government to act aggressively and act against the rules of the Knesset,” United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni said. “We have already succeeded in thwarting the rapid passing of the budget, allowing us more time to debate it. We will continue battling for these principles. Today’s meeting signifies the continuation of the battle.”
“We are initiating a battle for Israel’s democracy before it is too late. Anyone worried about Israel’s democratic character must stand up, issue a warning and join our fight,” said Labor Party MK Nachman Shai. Likud MK Reuven Rivlin, who served as Knesset speaker during the tenure of the previous two governments, participated on Tuesday morning in the meeting.
The Knesset’s new opposition is made up of 52 MKs from Labor, Meretz, Hadash, Kadima, Shas, UTJ and the two Arab parties. Raising the electoral threshold would force some of the parties to join forces ahead of the next coalition to ensure they keep their representation at the Knesset. Hadash, two Arab parties and Kadima polled each less than 4% nationwide. Six weeks of negotiations following the elections resulted in a 68-member-strong right-wing and neo-liberal coalition led by Benjamin Netanyahu and made up of four parties: the joint Likud-Beytenu list with 31 Knesset seats, Yesh Atid with 19, Jewish Home with 12 and Hatnua with six. It won the support of the Knesset on Monday by 68-48, with four abstentions.
