Coalition banks on Likud defectors

MKs from Netanyahu’s party blast family reunification compromise

The Knesset Arrangements Committee voted on Monday to waive the cooling-off period and expedite a bill that would make it easier to split the Likud Party.

Under the current law, one-third of the Knesset members in the faction are required to enable MKs to break off. The new bill, which was set to be brought to a preliminary reading in the plenum on Monday night, would change the law and require only four MKs.

The goal of the bill is to enable the coalition to recruit four of the 30 Likud MKs and no longer have to rely on the four Ra’am (United Arab List) MKs, who have given the coalition a hard time in passing the controversial family reunification bill.

“We believe that in a month’s time they will comprehend that they are stuck in the opposition and will prepare to join the coalition,” New Hope faction head

Sharren Haskel said.

Another bill whose cooling-off period was waived would expand the number of ministers and deputy ministers who can quit the Knesset via the Norwegian Law and enable the next candidate on their party’s list to enter. Sixteen current ministers have quit under the law, most recently Ayelet Shaked (Yamina) and Karin Elharrar (Yesh Atid), whose replacements, Yomtov Kalfon and Inbar Bezek, were sworn in on Monday.

Deputy ministers Abir Kara, Yoav Segalovitz, Alon Schuster and Idan Roll were set to be sworn in on Monday night.

The Arrangements Committee also passed a bill that would give the coalition an additional 45 days to pass the state budget without the government falling beyond the three months provided by the current law. Jewish holidays would no longer be counted among those days.

The coalition appeared to suffer a blow when it failed in a vote on the cooling-off period for a bill regarding shared taxis. But after opposition MKs applauded and celebrated their victory in the vote, coalition chairman Idit Silman (Yamina) said video of the vote indicated that the coalition had received the additional vote needed to advance the bill.

The family reunification bill was not brought to a vote because the coalition still lacks a majority. Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu offered the coalition support to pass a two-month extension of the current family reunification ordinance in return for the coalition backing the passage of a stronger immigration law. The coalition rejected the offer.

Likud MKs Miri Regev and Yoav Galant criticized Netanyahu for offering the compromise via the press without updating the MKs first.

“We decided that we were going against it,” Regev said. “We need to vote against it first.”