Israeli government hanging in balance after coalition loses vote

The future of Israel’s government led by Naftali Bennett is hanging in the balance after the coalition lost a key Knesset parliament vote on Monday night on a bill to renew the application of Israeli law to settlers in the West Bank.

A total of 58 Knesset members voted against and 52 in favour after a highly charged debate. “Disgrace,” shouted coalition members at a Knesset member from the coalition United Arab List who voted against.

Despite the dramatic vote, Mr Bennett vowed the government would remain intact and pass the bill before the end of the month but the opposition hailed the defeat as beginning of the end for the coalition.

Justice minister Gidon Sa’ar, head of the right-wing New Hope party, who introduced the bill, described the vote as a test for the future of the government and is expected to decide in the coming days if New Hope will remain in the coalition.

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The bill has been renewed every five years since Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War and Israelis moved to live in the occupied territory. The right-wing opposition parties led by Binyamin Netanyahu’s Likud support the bill ideologically but united to vote against in a bid to topple the government.

“You ask us how we vote against the bill,” said Likud Knesset member Yoav Kisch. “The answer is very easy. This will topple this bad government. We’ll immediately pass it when we come back,” he told the chamber. “We can’t leave 500,000 people without law and without order.”

Naftali Bennett’s government has been in power for a year but last month lost its parliamentary majority after a lawmaker from Mr Bennett’s right-wing Yamina defected to the opposition.

Monday’s Knesset defeat places the future of the coalition, comprised of eight disparate parties from across the political spectrum, in doubt. The half-a-million Jewish settlers who live in the West Bank now face an uncertain legal future.

If the regulations extending Israeli law to West Bank Jewish communities are not renewed by the end of June, Israeli courts will no longer be empowered to try its citizens who have committed crimes in the West Bank, and Israeli authorities will be unable to prosecute and arrest its citizens in the West Bank.

Police will no longer be able to investigate suspected crimes committed by Israelis in the West Bank, nor of those who committed crimes inside Israel and fled to the West Bank.

West Bank Jewish settlers will lose a host of privileges such as the right to government benefits, the right to adopt children and renew driving licenses. Settlers may also be prevented from voting in Israeli elections.