Israel’s fragile coalition government on Monday failed to pass a bill extending Israeli law to West Bank settlements for the first time in the country’s history, dealing a severe blow to the coalition and threatening to push the country towards further political uncertainty.
Until this week, no government has voted against extending Israeli law to West Bank settlers. The Judea and Samaria Regulations Law was enacted in 1967 after Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan; since then, every government has been able to pass the law with widespread support across the political spectrum.
However, the opposition, led by ex-Prime Minister (PM) Benjamin Netanyahu, has driven a concerted effort to defeat the bill in a bid to topple the coalition. As a result, 58 lawmakers voted against the bill, with only 52 voting in favour. Moreover, apart from a unanimous front presented by the opposition, two members of the ruling coalition also voted against the bill.
What’s happening in Israel today: a set of regulations formalizing apartheid are up for a renewed vote. These rules offer Jews in the West Bank a superior position over Palestinians, allowing settlers Israeli social security, access to civilian rather than military courts etc.
— Haggai Matar (@Ha_Matar) June 6, 2022
Mazen Ghanaim from Ra’am and Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi of the Meretz party voted to defeat the legislation. Three members from Ra’am as well as Member of Knesset (MK) Idit Silman, who quit the coalition in April over religious differences, were absent and failed to register their votes.
While the coalition will have the chance to reintroduce the bill on the Knesset floor before July 1, failure to pass it for a second time will mean that the nearly 500,000 settlers living in the West Bank will no longer be under Israeli law and will not receive the same rights as other Israelis, including the right to vote.
The fate of Israel’s ruling coalition hinges on whether Israeli settlers will be treated like… Palestinians. https://t.co/SdL8TFmAcR
— Khaled Elgindy (@elgindy_) June 6, 2022
Such an outcome could jeopardise Israel’s control over settlements in the West Bank.
However, Netanyahu’s Likud party, which favours the construction of settlements, has shrugged off such concerns. “You ask us how we vote against [the bill],” Likud MK Yoav Kisch said before the voting began. “The answer is very easy. This will topple this bad government.”
“We’ll immediately pass it when we come back [to power],” he said, adding, “We can’t leave 500,000 people without law and without order.”
Coalition member and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid expressed optimism and noted that the government will pass the bill in the second round of voting. “As always after a loss, we will come back stronger and win the next round,” he tweeted.
Despite Lapid’s remarks, the coalition continues to suffer major setbacks that have raised the prospect of a fifth election in just over three years. Earlier today, the government failed to approve the nomination of Yamina MK Matan Kahana as Religious Minister after fellow party member Silman voted against it. Silman, who is a member of Bennett’s Yamina party, quit the coalition in April after objecting to the government’s decision to allow bread to be brought into public hospitals, which she argues goes against Jewish religious law.
A month later, Meretz MK Zoabi exited the coalition over the police’s assault of mourners attending the funeral of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was murdered by Israeli security forces according to the network. Zoabi later returned to the coalition over fears that her resignation would allow the Likud party to come to power.
Israel’s ruling coalition, which is an ideologically incompatible patchwork of parties from the left, right, and centre, was formed in June last year to end Netanyahu’s 12-year stint as PM. The formation of a stable government ended Israel’s political stalemate, which saw the country hold four elections in two years.