News
Coalition tensions over Knesset foreign committee, gay rights and Jerusalem
Last update: 09.15 GMT
Disagreements between coalition partners Likud-Beitenu and Yesh Atid are simmering over a variety of legislation and the chairmanship of the influential Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee (FADC).
Knesset speaker Yuli Edlestein is today expected to appoint himself to the post after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid were unable to agree a successor to Avigdor Lieberman who vacated the FADC chairmanship following his return as Foreign Minister last month. Lapid was understood to want Yesh Atid faction chair Ofer Shelah to head the committee, which approves military budgets and tackles security issues, but Netanyahu is apparently keen to appoint his ally, Likud MK Tzachi Hanegbi.
Edelstein’s self-appointment is viewed as a last resort to allow the FADC to function properly in the face of the impasse. Announcing his decision, Edelstein said, “I decided, out of responsibility for the house that I lead and in order to maintain the integrity of our important parliamentary work, not to let the panel [deteriorate].”
However, it appears another crisis has been temporarily averted. Yesh Atid has held back on a decision to bring a vote on a bill which would grant equal tax benefits to same-sex couples. The bill has been approved by the Ministerial Committee on Legislation and therefore technically obligates coalition members to support it. However, it is known that Jewish Home and sections of Likud-Beitenu oppose the proposed legislation.
Media reports had suggested that if Yesh Atid brought such a vote to the Knesset, Likud-Beitenu would propose a bill constructed by United Torah Judaism MK Yaakov Litzman, which would require the approval of a two thirds Knesset majority for Israel to withdraw from any part of municipal Jerusalem. Again, the bill has the approval of the Ministerial Committee on Legislation, but is opposed by Yesh Atid and Hatnuah leader Tzipi Livni, who says it would restrict the work of the Israeli negotiating team, which she heads in current peace talks with the Palestinian Authority.