The law has been in force since Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967 and gives settlers in the West Bank the same rights as citizens of Israel, and the Knesset used to extend it every five years.
But two members of the coalition, which brings together parties from diverse backgrounds, one from the United Arab List and the other from the left-wing Meretz party, voted in the first reading against the bill.
The lawmakers’ vote against the bill does not call, for the time being, its continued validity in West Bank settlements, but rather the stability of the government led by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
And mobilized the opposition, which had announced that it would vote against the bill merely to show its lack of confidence in the government, to 58 votes to 52 for the coalition.
The government recently lost its majority in the Knesset, paving the way for a confrontation over the “Judea and Samaria Law”, the Israeli name for the West Bank.
If the bill is not passed by July 1, no more than 475,000 Israeli settlers will have the same rights as other Israelis, including voting rights.
Israeli observers believe that the right-wing opposition, led by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, will not prevent the extension of the pro-settlement law.
But the opposition will seek to weaken the Bennett government, by showing that the coalition cannot pass the bill.
“Bennett, go home. It’s time to bring Israel back to the right,” Netanyahu’s Likud party said in a short message in Hebrew after the vote.
For his part, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, who is also the co-leader of the ruling coalition, acknowledged the “defeat” of the government, which he stressed would “come back stronger” in order to “win the next round.”
#ruling #coalition #Israel #loses #important #vote #Knesset