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Photo: Gil Yohanan
Education Minister Naftali Bennett
Photo: Gil Yohanan

Vote on Regulation Bill, Muezzin Bill postponed to next week

After Kahlon says his party will abstain from vote on Regulation Bill, coalition does not have enough votes to pass the legislation that would legalize Jewish outposts in the West Bank, deciding to push it until Monday.

The Israeli government on Wednesday decided to postpone the vote on two controversial bills the coalition proposed—the Regulation Bill and the Muezzin Bill—to next week.

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The cabinet members convened on Wednesday morning to discuss the impending evacuation of the illegal outpost Amona, scheduled for December 25.

The Regulation Bill, which was supposed to go up to a vote in the Knesset later in the day, would retroactively legalize Jewish settlements in the West Bank that were built on privately-owned Palestinian land, including Amona.

Education Minister Bennett and Prime Minister Netanyahu (Photo: Emil Salman) (Photo: Emile Salman)
Education Minister Bennett and Prime Minister Netanyahu (Photo: Emil Salman)
 

At the outset of the cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that due to failure to obtain a majority for both bill proposals, the vote on them would be postponed.

Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon has said that if the Regulation Bill is put to a vote, he and his Kulanu party would abstain from the vote. In addition, other coalition members are abroad and would not be able to vote.

Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett said the postponement of the vote was the result of Kahlon breaching coalition discipline, and that therefore he, Bennett, considers himself free of any obligation to support other coalition bill proposals raised to a vote on Wednesday.

The Regulation Bill will instead be put to a vote on Monday, while the Muezzin Bill—which seeks to limit the use of speakers in the call to prayer at mosques—will go up to a vote next Wednesday. Coalition chairman David Bitan (Likud) will have until that time to muster up the required majority.

Meanwhile, coalition officials warned that the timetable to finding a solution for Amona is narrowing, and there is a possibility there won't be enough time to implement any of the alternatives by the evacuation deadline.

The "Cypriot Model," according to which a special land dispute tribunal will be established, will take too long to create, while the proposal to turn the regulation legislation into government regulation orders—which would make the law redundant—will also not be ready in time.

 


פרסום ראשון: 11.30.16, 14:50
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