BICOM

As the Knesset prepares for the High Holidays, a number of items are slated for debate and a vote.

Today, the Knesset plenum will vote on the state budget and the arrangements bill. The 2000-page budget is also expected to pass the vote and proceed to the Finance Committee, which must sort out the details. A final vote on the budget is slated for 20 November. Presently, there is no agreement regarding the defense budget, which currently amounts to NIS 55.3 billion (approx. £9.2 billion). Also notably absent from the budget is the natural gas plan which has been put on indefinite hold by the prime minister. This, in light of recent political developments and the announcement of Italian energy company ENI that it discovered a gas field off the Egyptian coast that is significantly larger than Israel’s Mediterranean gas fields.

Also today, the Knesset is scheduled to have a first reading and vote on the new anti-terror bill proposed by the government. The new law gathers all the counterterrorism laws on the books into one. Due to coalition support, the bill’s passage is virtually assured although how the opposition will vote is unclear. Among its goals, the bill aspires to give the security services, the police and the IDF the tools to stem the tide of terror attacks carried out by Jews against Muslims and Christians across the country.

This morning, MK Shai Piron, who served as Minister of Education under the previous government, officially announced his resignation. Former MK and IDF general Elazar Stern will likely replace him. Danny Danon’s move to represent Israel at the UN has opened up a Likud seat, which has been filled by Sharon Haskel. The Canadian-born Israeli has pledged to put her native English to use as part of Israel’s public diplomacy efforts.

Finally, the police have recommended that MK Oren Hazan (Likud) be indicted for assaulting the Director General of the municipality of Ariel in October 2014. The State Attorney’s Office will now have to decide whether the evidence merits an indictment.