Israel Parliament rejects bill to delay election call

JERUSALEM – Israeli lawmakers today rejected a bill to give the government more time to pass a budget, raising the likelihood that Parliament will dissolve and force a fourth election in less than two years.  

Israel’s coalition government – a broken marriage between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his political rival, Defence Minister Benny Gantz – has been inching towards collapse for weeks. 

Under the current arrangement between Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud and Gantz’s centre-left Blue and White, the coalition has until one minute past midnight tomorrow to agree a budget for the current year.

If a 2020 budget is not passed, Israel’s 120-seat Parliament, the Knesset, would dissolve, with new elections held as early as March. 

Gantz, a former army chief, has accused Netanyahu of refusing to approve a budget for personal political reasons. 

The three-year coalition deal stipulates that Netanyahu serves as prime minister for 18 months, with Gantz, currently the alternate prime minister, taking over in November 2021.

Gantz had insisted the coalition pass a budget covering both 2020 and 2021, arguing Israel needs stability after its worst ever political crisis and with its economy devastated by the pandemic.

Netanyahu has refused to endorse a 2021 budget.

That, according to his critics, was a political tactic to keep the coalition unstable and make it easier for him to sink the government before he must hand power to Gantz.

Late Sunday, Blue and White said it had reached an agreement with Likud on a bill to buy more time.

The bill would have pushed back the deadline for approving a 2020 budget to December 31. The government would then have had until January 5 to pass a 2021 budget.

Earlier yesterday, there were indications the bill was poised to pass with support from Likud and Blue and White.

But later in the day Netanyahu and Gantz engaged in yet another war of words.

Netanyahu said Gantz had “decided to renege” on promises he made, accusing him of “dragging (Israel) to unnecessary elections in the midst of the coronavirus crisis”.

Gantz insisted that he had presented Netanyahu with clear conditions to avoid another vote.

“If Likud won't meet our demands, we will head to elections with our head held high,” he said.

The bill was defeated with 49 lawmakers voting against and 47 voting in favour. – AFP, December 22, 2020