Knesset Dispersal Bill Stalled in Committee
by i24 News
i24 News – An Israeli parliament committee necessary for moving forward legislation to disperse the government convened Monday after several delays.
The House Committee meeting came as the coalition and the opposition resumed negotiations — stalled since Wednesday — regarding finalizing details for ending the Knesset.
Eleven separate Knesset dispersal bills passed the preliminary reading on Wednesday, stifled by the House Committee not meeting until Monday. The committee is headed by Yamina rebel Nir Orbach.
Orbach reportedly delayed the meeting from last week until Monday, then repeatedly delayed the discussion throughout the day. He did this in hopes of giving the opposition enough time to form an alternative government.
A Knesset legal adviser said Sunday that Orbach could not delay the bill. Yet, Orbach has not been speaking with other lawmakers recently, according to The Times of Israel. The coalition’s acting whip, Boaz Toporovsky, said on Sunday that Orbach was not answering his questions about dispersal.
The Knesset committee meeting began around 1 p.m., and halted soon after at the request of Toporovsky to give the negotiators time.
Israel’s coalition is expected to send the bill to the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee instead — headed by Gilad Kariv of the coalition’s center-left Labor party — for a review.
Once passing the first plenum vote, the bill would need to undergo an additional review process and two more votes before coming into effect, most likely later than the expected Monday.