COALITION

push forward his proposal to cancel Kan’s establishment and stick with the existing Israel Broadcast Association, even though the prime minister does not back it.

“I have an opinion on the matter. Just because I’m coalition chairman doesn’t mean I’m not an MK who can propose bills,” he said. “[Kan] should be canceled because it doesn’t exist yet, and the reason it was supposed to be established is because we couldn’t make the IBA more efficient; they refused to fire anyone. Today, they’ll agree to anything, as long as they continue to exist; so we can reach the same results and spend less money than what [Kan] would cost us. And we’d save money on pensions for all the IBA workers who would be laid off.”

Major controversy within the coalition is expected over the evacuation of the Amona settlement, which is planned for December. It’s not a legislative matter – the one bill Moalem-Refaeli proposed to try to save the settlement has little support, with the government preferring to move Amona’s residents to a different part of the same hill – but such issues have sparked rebellions in the past, and Bitan is prepared for them.

Another settlement issue that will come to a head in the winter is the Ma’aleh Adumim annexation bill, proposed by Kisch and MK Bezalel Smotrich (Bayit Yehudi). Shaked said this week the bill has no chance of passing, because annexation should be a cabinet decision and not a private-member bill. Bitan, however, said the bill has a chance: “We want to annex Ma’aleh Adumim, but we don’t know what international pressures there will be.”

Still, both Shaked and Bitan look ahead to the Knesset’s winter session and expect the coalition to survive intact.

“This coalition is homogeneous and works well,” Shaked said, adding that she thinks it can even last a full term.

According to Bitan, “the members of the coalition want to get along. No one wants an early election, so they don’t stretch the rope too far.”•