Israel Our Home Chairman Avigdor Lieberman
Photo: Gil Yohanan
Chairman of the Opposition, Binyamin Netanyahu
Photo: Dudi Vaknin
Lieberman passes up hearing on gov't system
Israel Our Home chairman pulls plug on bill, hopes to recruit more votes before hearing
Israel Our Home Chairman MK Avigdor Lieberman decided to cancel a Knesset hearing of the bill to change Israel’s system of government Wednesday.
Israel Our Home explained it wanted to reach a more widespread agreement on the issue before a hearing took place.
Earlier in the week, Lieberman announced his intention to hold a vote for the bill, but later announced that there would only be a hearing on the matter. Before the plenum commenced Wednesday, Lieberman pulled the plug on the hearing too.
Political Conflict
Attila Somflavi
Members of coalition, opposition both vow to oppose bill to change system of government, which is Israel Our Home chairman's condition for joining coalition
Lieberman met with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert about a week ago, when the two agreed that they would promote legislative procedures to change the system of government and to create a constitution as soon as the Knesset’s winter session commenced.
Olmert expresses full support
The move was meant to pave the way for Israel Our Home to join the government, and for Lieberman’s appointment to minister.While Olmert expressed full support of changing the system, declaring so in a speech Tuesday, many Knesset factions didn’t hurry to join the initiative.
Opposition Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu, addressed the subject in his Knesset speech and said, “The system of government is not a pair of socks that can be changed every day.”
Netanyahu explained that it was a move that required a lot of thought and expert council.
The Labor Party convened at the beginning of the week in Tel Aviv to discuss its stance with regards to the bill Lieberman brought up. At the end of a tense meeting, a majority vote decided the Labor party would oppose the bill.
