Knesset speaker aims to stop vote on dispersing Knesset
If Levin blocks the bill, the Knesset will automatically disperse on December 23 and initiate elections on March 23.
By GIL HOFFMANUpdated: DECEMBER 13, 2020 21:56Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin speaks at a meeting of the Central Elections Committee, July 7, 2020(photo credit: ADINA WALLMAN/KNESSET SPOKESWOMAN)
A vote on dissolving the Knesset that had been set for Monday was postponed to Tuesday due to an attempt by Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin (Likud) to stop the dissolution bill from being brought to a vote.Levin warned Blue and White that if the Likud was not consulted over the date of the proposed early election, he could prevent the bill from coming to a vote. The bill sponsored by Blue and White would set the election for March 16, but the Likud only wants Israelis to go to the polls in May after more people have been vaccinated.Blue and White faction chairman Eitan Ginzburg, who sponsored the bill, intends to pass it into law by the end of the week and officially initiate elections.If Levin blocks the bill, the Knesset will automatically disperse on December 23 and initiate elections on March 23.Blue and White officials said the true motive of Levin and Likud is to stop the portions of the bill that would cut party funding and require transparency in spending and messages in paid advertisements on social media.Ginzburg’s bill would cut party funding by 10% and cut in half a NIS 2.6 million bonus each party received in the last election. It would also require those who paid for each advertisement to be identified, as in American election commercials, and take steps to prevent the distribution of fake news.Both Likud and Blue and White denied reports of compromise proposals being worked on over the weekend.Members of the two unity-government parties, including Finance Minister Israel Katz (Likud) and Science and Technology Minister Izhar Shay (Blue and White), have expressed support for a proposal that would involve passing two state budgets while postponing the agreed-upon rotation in the Prime Minister’s Office.But due to opposition from doves within Blue and White and supporters of Gideon Sa’ar in Derech Eretz and Likud, such changes in the coalition agreement would be unlikely to obtain the support of 70 MKs needed to pass in the Knesset.At least five Blue and White MKs have warned Blue and White leader Benny Gantz they would not support any bill that keeps Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in power longer, Channel 12 reported.
Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai is moving ahead with his plans to form a new party on the Center-Left, and the Joint List of four Arab parties that ran together in the last election is getting closer to splitting up ahead of the next race, Channel 12 reported.
