BICOM

The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suffered its first Knesset defeat yesterday, underlining the coalition’s narrow majority.

The bill itself is not considered a major item. MK Karin Elharar of the opposition Yesh Atid party proposed legislation which would ensure that paperwork submitted by the national debt collection agency regarding the assets of Israeli debtors must be filed at an office near the debtor’s home. The government opposed the bill and was eventually defeated on the issue by 46 to 45 votes.

The outcome was secured when several opposition MKs absented themselves from the Knesset plenum in advance of the debate but returned to cast their vote just seconds before it took place. Zionist Union head and opposition leader Isaac Herzog praised the manoeuvre and called the outcome “another surprise for the prime minister,” whose government enjoys a razor-thin overall majority. Earlier this week, Netanyahu’s government narrowly avoided a major embarrassment when it appeared that it might lose a vote to delay passage of the state budget. Infrastructure Minister Yuval Steinitz had to be called from his home to cast his vote.

Meanwhile, Likud and Yisrael Beitenu appeared to work together yesterday for the first time since March’s general election. Likud leader Netanyahu and Yisrael Beitenu head Avigdor Lieberman agreed that each would support the other’s candidate for the influential Judicial Selection Committee. Although the two parties ran as a single faction in the 2013 election and were close partners in the last government, there has been animosity between them since Lieberman turned down an offer to join Netanyahu’s current coalition.

Meretz leader Zahava Gal-On described Yisrael Beitenu yesterday as a “fifth column in the opposition.” However, writing in Yediot Ahronot this morning, Sima Kadmon says that yesterday’s agreement is not an indication that the coalition is about to expand. She comments, “Everyone can relax: Lieberman is not on his way into the government.”