Otzma Yehudit’s six Members of Knesset (MKs) boycotted the Knesset plenum on Wednesday morning following uproar in the coalition over a visit of two of the party’s ministers, National Security Minister MK Itamar Ben-Gvir and Negev and Galilee minister MK Yizhak Wasserlauf, visited the Temple Mount in a move criticized by the prime minister and other members of the coalition.
In the wake of the boycott, the opposition succeeded in striking down a bill in the plenum in a 21-20 vote.
The government removed the next three bills from the plenum’s agenda after realizing they no longer had a majority.
Otzma Yehudit said in a statement that it was not boycotting the plenum, but rather that an agreement had been reached between the coalition and opposition that all of the bills that came up on Wednesday would be supported by both parties, and that the MKs were thus given permission not to attend. According to Otzma Yehudit, the opposition had violated the agreement and decided to oppose the bills.
However, KAN’s Michael Shemesh reported that contrary to their claims, Otzma Yehudit was not given permission to be absent, but rather were given permission by the coalition’s management to be absent only if they were offset by members of the opposition. No opposition members agreed to offset Otzme Yehudit, and its MKs simply failed to show up, Shemesh reported.
Ben-Gvir said during his Temple Mount visit on Tuesday, which came in honor of the Tisha B’av fast, which commemorates the destruction of the Jewish temple, that the status quo at the site had changed and that Jews were permitted to pray there.
The issue is sensitive as the Temple Mount is a holy site for Muslims worldwide, and security officials have warned that a change on the status quo could lead to violence.
Not without criticism
On Tuesday, the prime minister’s office criticized Ben-Gvir’s comments and rejected the minister’s authority to determine policy at the site.
Visiting the Temple Mount is also a contentious religious issue. Most ultra-Orthodox religious leaders oppose it based on halakhic (Jewish law) rulings, saying that visiting the site is forbidden due to its purity.
Ministers and Members of Knesset from the coalition’s two ultra-Orthodox parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism, therefore also criticized Ben-Gvir, with officials in both parties even calling to “rethink” their partnership with the far-right party.
Opposition leader MK Yair Lapid said over the plenum dais, “If you want to know how governments disintegrate and coalitions fall, it is this. Exactly this.”
The opposition National Unity party said in a statement, “This is not a coalition – it is a collection of people who are not able to operate together because of petty political considerations. We will continue to act until we topple the government.”
The Knesset officially ended its summer session on July 28, but the plenum reconvened on August 4 and August 5. At the end of the session on August 5, Knesset Speaker MK Amir Ohana (Likud) said that the plenum was going to reconvene next at the start of the winter session, on October 28. However, the coalition soon announced that it would convene the plenum once again this week. Now that the coalition was forced to remove legislation from the agenda on Wednesday, it likely will reconvene the plenum once again.
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