Coalition MKs threatened with sanctions after voting for surrogacy law
The bill, which was sponsored by Yesh Atid MK Idan Roll, fell by a 47 to 29 vote, despite the support of the rebellious MKs.
By GIL HOFFMANAn activist waves an LGBT flag near Israel's Knesset building(photo credit: REUTERS)
Coalition chairman Miki Zohar (Likud) is considering punitive sanctions against three MKs in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition who voted for a bill the coalition opposed on Wednesday in the Knesset plenum.Public Security Minister Amir Ohana (Likud), Labor and Social Services Minister Itzik Shmuli (Labor) and Blue and White faction chairman Eitan Ginzburg voted for a bill that would have allowed male gay couples to adopt children from surrogate mothers in Israel.The bill, which was sponsored by Yesh Atid MK Idan Roll, fell by a 47-29 vote despite the support of the rebellious MKs.Ohana, Shmuli, Ginzburg and Roll are gay. Ohana and Shmuli have adopted children from surrogate mothers in the United States.Roll turned to MKs who have children and said it was not fair that it would cost him NIS 500,000 to adopt a child abroad. He singled out Diaspora Affairs Minister Omer Yankelevich, who has five children.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz did not participate in the vote.Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn (Blue and White) wrote on Twitter that the government was working on its own bill that would allow gay male couples to adopt in Israel. He promised that “a professional and responsible bill” would be passed into law by the end of the year.Opposition leader Yair Lapid said the government has been tricking the LGBT community for four years and would not keep this promise either.“An entire community has been waiting too long for the basic right to be parents,” he said.