Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on his way to the opposition, a top Likud MK said late Monday night as the Knesset failed to appoint heads of committees following a key vote which Netanyahu lost to his rivals.
Likud’s Miki Zohar said during a meeting of the Arrangements Committee – meant to fill key parliamentary roles – that he understands after losing the vote that the Likud is on its way to the opposition. Joint List MK Ahmed Tibi asked who would serve as leader of the opposition; Zohar answered that it would be “Benjamin Netanyahu.”
“We are internalizing that we are heading to the opposition,” Zohar said. “You think we don’t know what the opposition is like? We do. You need me to remind you of the days of [Menachem] Begin before he came to power?”
Netanyahu’s opponents succeeded in passing their proposal for control over the powerful Knesset Arrangements Committee, which runs the Knesset until a government is formed, thanks to the support of the Ra’am (United Arab List) Party led by MK Mansour Abbas.
The proposal of Yesh Atid faction chairman Meir Cohen passed by a vote of 60 to 51. Party sources said their victory came following a successful meeting earlier Monday between their leader, Yair Lapid, and Abbas.
“I am thankful to my partners,” Lapid wrote on Twitter. “The victory in the vote on the Arrangements Committee is another step on the way to a unity government in Israel.”
In exchange for his support, Lapid offered Ra’am a spot on the Knesset Finance Committee, chairmanship of a committee on fighting violence in the Arab sector and a deputy Knesset speaker post. But in an interview with Channel 12, Abbas said the posts did not influence his decision.