New coalition tensions flare as Otzma Yehudit party boycotts Knesset vote
May 18, 2023
Jerusalem [Israel], May 18 (ANI/TPS): Tensions within Israel's governing coalition flared out in the open on Wednesday as the right-wing Otzma Yehudit party boycotted a Knesset vote on Wednesday.
Members of the party, led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, absented themselves from the plenum during a vote on budget allocations. The boycott was reported because the party did not feel enough money was budgeted for the Negev and Galilee regions.
As a result, two bills sponsored by MKs from the opposition Yesh Atid party passed preliminary readings. One bill addressed diagnosing learning disabilities for children in low-income families while the other dealt with protecting Israel's coastal environment.
The government's immediate priority has pivoted from a contentious judicial overhaul initiative to passing a state budget. Failure to pass a budget by May 29 will automatically dissolve the Knesset and send Israel to its sixth election in under four years.
The Otzma Yehudit party has six seats in the 120-seat Knesset. Should the party's boycott continue, the governing coalition will have a slim 58-56 parliamentary majority.
The tensions between Ben-Gvir and the government are not new, but had been placed on the backburner during the recent Israel-Gaza conflict.
Before the Gaza crisis, Ben-Gvir boycotted a weekly Cabinet meeting and Otzma Yehudit lawmakers who chaired Knesset committees cancelled their committee meetings.
Ben-Gvir had criticized the government's handling of Gaza rocket attacks before Israel began launching air strikes on senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad leaders. He also opposed Israel returning Imad al-Adwan, a Jordanian lawmaker caught trying to smuggle weapons to Palestinians. On Tuesday, a Jordanian court charged Adwan with smuggling and undermining public order. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
Ben-Gvir also protested Israel returning the bodies of three Palestinian terrorists. Two were killed in a shootout with Israeli soldiers while the third was killed while trying to stab soldiers in a separate incident.
Israel often holds the bodies of Palestinian terrorists to deter celebratory and inciting funerals, and to hold them as bargaining chips for Israelis held by Palestinians. Hamas has been holding Avraham Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed in Gaza since 2014 and 2015 respectively. Hamas also holds the bodies of Israeli soldiers Lt. Hadar Goldin and Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul, who were both killed on August 1, 2014 while fighting in Gaza. (ANI/TPS)
