The coalition and the opposition agreed on Monday night that only laws agreed upon by both sides will be brought to a vote by the Knesset, which is also to vote to dissolve ahead of elections in April. The coalition is planning two days, next Monday and Tuesday, of intensive votes on various bills before parliament is dissolved, Trend reports referring to Haaretz.
Among the bills that will not be brought for a vote is one that would authorize the Culture Ministry to cut state funding to institutions seen as disloyal to the state.
Another vote now to be deferred relates to the death penalty for terrorists, which was to have had its first vote in this Knesset and was expected to have passed thanks to an agreement with Yisrael Beiteinu.
Also on the list of postponed legislation is the bill that would have permitted acceptance committees to operate in communities of up to 700 households rather than 400, as the law now provides for.
The so-called Gideon Saar bill, which would limit the president’s choice in calling on a candidate to form a government following elections.
The bill was meant to head off the prospect that President Reuven Rivlin could call on someone in the Likud party other than the party’s head, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself. It will also not pass, but Netanyahu said that the President's Residence had given an assurance that Rivlin would retain the current custom of appointing the head of the largest party to form a government following the spring elections.
MK Dov Khenin (Joint List) told Haaretz: “I feel satisfaction in the fact that we have been able to prevent the coalition from the bringing problematic bills from the right wing to a vote next week."
Khenin said the opposition "waged a war of attrition to postpone the vote on these bills week after week and our action proved itself. The coalition’s plan has failed. To those asking whether moving up the elections is good or bad, I say that at least from this standpoint, something good has happened here.”