Opposition MKs find original way to hit back at Netanyahu's government expansion
From changing the word 'cabinet' to 'Bibi's gang' and debating the temperature of the room, the meeting of the committee to prepare legislation on the contentious issue soon turned in to a circus.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may have won his bid to increase the number of ministers in his new government, but it was a hard-fought battle.
Opposition MKs employed unusual tactics in an all-night filibuster aimed at stymieing the vote to change the basic law stopping Netanyahu from appointing more than 18 ministers. The lawmakers turned out in force during the committee meeting to prepare the bill for its final two readings in the Knesset.
With negotiations coming down to the wire, Netanyahu finally managed to put together a coalition government consisting of 61 MKs, the narrowest of majorities. The five-party coalition came at a price, with senior officials from each party demanding a ministerial position – a situation that led Netanyahu to seek an expansion on the number of ministers. The last parliament, also headed by Netanyahu limited the often bloated number of ministers down to a maximum of 18.
The committee room was packed throughout the night with some 20 MKs, mostly from the opposition. Some were members of the committee, while others came primarily to cause a stir. Some began heckling, which resulted in the removal from the room of MKs Robert Ilatov (Yisrael Beytenu), Yoel Hasson (Zionist Union) and Michal Biran (Zionist Union). The discussion had very quickly turned into a circus.
Matters were not helped when in the middle of the debate, the lights suddenly went out. "I leaned on the switch by mistake," explained Likud MK Oren Hazan with a smile. And it was downhill from there.
Opposition MKs, who are outnumbered in the committee by coalition members by five to six, presented a series of mocking motions to delay the vote.
One motion sought to name Mount Olympus as the seat of Israel's government, another said that the change to the Basic Law: The Government would be approved if Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett put his cell phone in flight mode, while a third wanted to have deputy ministers referred to as "lackeys." One enterprising MK even proposed exchanging the word "cabinet" in the bill for "Bibi's gang."
Hasson, in stockinged feet, settled himself outside the door to the room and began to send pleading notes to Elkin, begging to be allowed back into the debate.
"Exalted and honorable chairman, perhaps this is enough already? You have abused me enough!" read one note. Another said: "Your honor Chairman Elkin, I'm bored out here. Perhaps a reprieve?"
Biran, meanwhile, refused to leave the room until an usher was summoned.
Opposition MKs' series of motions also included a call to postpone the hearing due to fatigue (by Zionist Union's Merav Michaeli), ordering dessert for all present (Yoel Hasson as soon as he returned), and pausing the discussion in order to watch an NBA game (Yesh Atid's Ofer Shelah, who volunteered to provide commentary). MK Haim Yellin, a Yesh Atid MK from the Gaza border, brought in a dove made out of the tail of a Qassam rocket, and Michal Rozin of Meretz held a debate on the temperature of the air conditioner.
As the debate ran later and later, some committee members began to feel the strain, and Likud MK Yoav Kish, a former pilot, offered to show his fellow lawmakers the "combat nap", which allows pilots to grab some brief moments of rest. Shas MK Yaakov Margi took to standing in order to remain awake, while Kish and Rabbi Meir Porush of United Torah Judaism sank into a deep sleep. Meanwhile, the committee chairman Ze'ev Elkin of Likud even allowed himself a laugh at the proposals from the opposition.
At around 4am, the opposition launched a new tack, and demanded that many of the motions required a "new vote" by an expanded panel. Elkin was forced to waken 20 members of the arranging committee, and at 5am, those unlucky MKs found themselves heading for the Knesset compound, bleary-eyed and muttering curses.
"You fooled us - we thought that being on this committee was a perk!" David Bitan of Likud snapped at Elkin. Between 5 and 6am, members of both committees ran between two floors of the building, and Elkin, who serves as chairman of the two committees, ended up sending updates to himself. At one point, Robert Ilatov vanished, and Elkin, who had not noticed his absence, continued to count him as having voted.
But the coalition's inevitable victory came shortly after six o'clock. The final vote, like all its predecessors, came out six in favor and five against.
"Now everyone can see who wore out who," Elkin smiled as he rushed to submit the bill to the Knesset.
"After tonight, there's no way that Bibi won't make you a minister," Michal Rozin said. Elkin smiled: "If he doesn’t make me a minister, he will hear about it from me."
