Coalition, opposition set to end fight on committees
Representatives of the coalition and opposition held what both sides called a positive meeting in Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy’s office on Monday evening in an effort to end their feud over Knesset committees and key posts.
The Likud has accused the coalition of offering the party unprecedentedly low representation in key Knesset committees and the presidium of Knesset deputy speakers that decide which bills are brought to a vote.
In the closed-door meeting, the coalition offered the opposition more Knesset deputy speaker posts, committee chairmanships and representatives on the Finance Committee and other powerful committees.
“Fair offers were put on the table by each side, with what they thought they could live with if agreed upon, and now they are
both considering it,” one participant in the meeting said.
Another participant said progress was made, with a goal of completing an agreement by Tuesday.
“We hope we will be done as early as [Tuesday] and that we will find and reach a solution,” he said.
A Likud source said the party could live with the offer, but other parties in the opposition were more militant and might insist on rejecting it.
Earlier Monday, Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid told his Yesh Atid faction he hopes the meeting would end what he called the opposition’s “filibusters over nonsense.”
“The opposition is trying to destroy this house and then whining to the press about how they are being treated,” he said.
Meanwhile, the government of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Monday morning rejected a West Bank annexation bill of Likud MK Miki Zohar in the Ministerial Committee on Legislation.
Zohar had dared Yamina and New Hope ministers to support the legislation, even though the coalition has been voting against every opposition-sponsored bill.
He said he would still bring the bill to a vote next week in the Knesset plenum, where Bennett himself will have to vote against it.
Zohar released a statement bashing Bennett and Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked of Yemina and Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Construction and Housing Minister Ze’ev Elkin of New Hope.
“You promised again and again that you will take action to bring about sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, and you once again broke your word,” he said. “You once again proved that you have no ideology and that no values are holy for you except for keeping your cabinet seats.”