Long hours of Knesset drama ended in the early hours of Tuesday morning with a clear message: a simple majority of lawyers opposed a compromise to extend budget talks between Likud and Blue & White in a bid to halt put on Israel ‘s fourth elections in two years – a time to keep up as the country struggles to contain the coronavirus that wreaked havoc on the economy.
Until the last minute, the leaders of Likud and Blue & White were unsure how to vote on a bill to extend the budget date and thus delay the release of the Knesset. Rebels in both parties, however, did not save the coalition.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will sit alone in the Knesset for a vote Monday night
(Photo: The Knesset)
At times, it seemed that the coalition would indeed be affected by a narrow majority of one or two. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu even made his way to the Knesset to vote, hoping to retain the narrow edge for success.
MKs held off against dozens of talks with their coalition colleagues under the radar on Monday, with no knowledge of Likud’s leadership.
Some MKs also held talks with Gideon Sa’ar, former Likud minister and bête noire Netanyahu who recently left the Knesset to form his own new party, which is looking forward to attracting many Likud voters attracted in the next elections.
A break between Likud and Blue & White appeared on the cards two days ago. But when Blue & White Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn refused to accept any reduction in powers over the Judiciary as part of the agreement, he made it clear to Gantz that little in his fashion would compromise with Netanyahu.
Gantz let down his own willingness to negotiate and from that moment on, a commotion erupted in the Knesset.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid set up a war room to ensure the bill failed. A whiteboard was placed on the wall outlining all the ways to wake up the coalition’s path to victory in the vote.
Yair Lapid war room whiteboard
Members of Yesh Atid Lapid’s party met up before the vote with Blue & White MKs, which was until Gantz signed the coalition deal with Likud in April without knowingly being members of the same alliance.
The Yesh Atid MKs were targeting Blue & White lawmakers who were waiting to support the bill, hoping to convince them to let the government fall.
It became clear to Yesh Atid that MKs Asaf Zamir, Ram Shefa and Miki Haimovich were the weak links in Blue & White, and the pressure was put on them.
During Monday, most of the Blue & White MKs stayed home after Gantz allowed them to vote as they pleased, partly because some were on their own and partly because some were not. just to vote. Zamir and Haimovich were the only ones who asked him to stay in the Knesset.
It later emerged that Ram Shefa, who is supposed to be alone, was also nearby in his car waiting to be voted on.
Zamir and Haimovich, who came under pressure from all sides, stayed out of the plenum as voting began, just to appear for the second and third readings of the bill to vote.
Shefa jumped out of his car when voting had already begun and reached the plenum at the last minute to vote “no.”
A photo posted on Twitter by Asaf Zamir shows himself, right, Miki Haimovich, center, and Ram Shefa heading for the plenum to vote
(Photo: Asaf Zamir / Twitter )
Likud MK Michal Shir was also hidden in the Knesset parking lot while waiting for the vote. She also emerged from hiding to vote “no” in the third and final reading, fishing on her party colleagues.
Almost immediately, she announced that she was leaving the Likud to join a Sa’ar party.
Another shock awaited the Likud in the form of MK Sharren Haskel, who was also absent and did not answer phone calls of coalition leaders demanding her vote.
Once the bill was passed, Likud announced that she had also decided to join Sa’ar – and removed her and Sir from the group’s WhatsApp group.