Jeremy's Knesset Insider

Tuesday saw the opposition’s filibuster fail followed by one minute speeches that mostly discussed the Eliantz French school system. Netanyahu was forced to sit through the MKs’ speeches and gave one of his own. Following the drama the Knesset discussed a motion on the connection between cell phones and cancer.

Filibuster of the Deficit Reduction Bill

18 MKs combined forces for a 12-hour filibuster, with representation from all six opposition parties: Kadima (Shitrit, Shai, Zoaretz, Pelsner, Mula and Yoel Hasson), National Union (Ketzeleh, Ariel, Eldad and Ben-Ari), Chadash (Barakeh, Swead, Chanin and Agbaraia), Meretz (Oron and Gilon), Ra’am-Ta’al (Tibi) and Balad (Zachalka). MK Ben-Ari’s hour and a half speech was by far the longest. Ministers Eitan (Likud), Steinetz (Likud), Landau (Y.B.) and MK Gafni took turns criticizing the tactic.

Here are a few summaries so you can get a feeling of what went on.

MK Gafni explained that the bill would put a new spending limit on the budget. The bill proposes an annual growth rate of taxes to a little over 2% overall, a rise from the current 1.7%. Gafni explained it was needed for Israel to pay its loans and get out of its deficit.

MK Baron (Kadima) warned this would endanger the Knesset’s authority and make the opposition less relevant. He went as far as saying this could cause financial collapse.

MK Oron said that this bill would hurt the economy for years to come.

MK Barkeh charged the ones who would pay the extra 0.3-0.4% would be the poor. He said his party would vote against the capitalistic bill that helps the rich.

The opposition made a decision after 5 AM to end the filibuster and vote based on the number of coalition vs. opposition MKs in the room.

The bill narrowly passed in its second reading thanks to Netanyahu who had been hiding in his office and came in to vote for the bill. The third reading was a roll call, which gave the coalition MKs time to come into the room.  The bill passed in its third reading 51-31.

One Minute Speeches

After a recess of over eight hours 22 MKs chose to give one minute speeches.

Nine of the 22 MKs chose to discuss the Eliantz schools. MK Bensimon (Labor), MK Ben-Ari (N.U.), MK Avraham-Balila (Kadima), MK Tirosh (Kadima), MK Ketzeleh (N.U.), MK Bielski (Kadima), MK Zoaretz (Kadima), MK Ze’ev (Shas) and MK Levi-Abukasis (Y.B.) all talked about the Eliantz French school program that was being honored and recalled their own personal experiences with the school.  Many MKs gave lengthy portions of their speech in French.

MK Levin (Likud) asked the government to work against the Supreme Court order opening up the 443 highway to Palestinian traffic, while MK Magadla (Labor) and MK Zachalka (Balad) talked in favor of the 443 Supreme Court decision.

MK Wilf (Labor) and MK Ganem (Ra’am-Ta’al) discussed the decline of the Israeli education system. MK Gilon (Meretz) spoke in sign language in honor of Hearing Disability Day. MK Adato (Kadima) demanded the Health Ministry add the 65 Million NIS that the Supreme Court ordered be set aside for pharmaceuticals. MK Eldad (N.U.) criticized the building freeze in the settlements and Jerusalem. MK Amar (Y.B.) talked about the many deaths in traffic accidents this month. MK Shai (Kadima) stated that 50% of Israelis do not have gas masks. MK Pelsner (Kadima) discussed issues he has with the bi-annual budget. MK Shama (Likud) criticized the government’s decision to raise the minimum required down payment on mortgages to 40%.

Motion on “the government represents the interests of coalition members rather than serve the interests of state residents”.

MK Boim (Kadima) accused Netanyahu of being a failure in every aspect of government and as a liar regarding every campaign promise he made.

MK Pelsner (Kadima) talked about leadership. He talked of Ben-Gurion, Begin and Sharon. He accused Netanyahu of not being a true leader and of giving in to the Chareidim.

MK Okunis (Likud) accused Tzipi Livni of giving in to commentator Yair Lapid’s criticism of Kadima and attacking the Chareidim every chance she had. Okunis reminded the Knesset the amount of money Kadima gave the chareidim in 2006.

MK Rotem (Y.B.) said that the 74 MKs in the coalition represent the majority of the Israeli people and there is nothing Kadima can say about that. He suggested Kadima learn from their mistakes and support the Israeli government just as the opposition supported Kadima during the Second Lebanese war in 2006 and the Gaza war in 2009. Rotem warned of the dangers Israel would face if they are not united.

MK Vaknin (Shas) blasted Kadima for blaming all of Israel’s problems on the Chareidim. He reminded Kadima that they gave him more money than Likud.

MK Moses (U.T.J.) blasted Kadima for being an anti-Chareidi party. He then criticized the new government law in which a person must pay a 40% down payment in order to get a mortgage.

MK Ganem (Ra’am-Ta’al) slammed the new law that takes away certain privileges from Hamas prisoners until Shalit is released.

MK Ben-Ari (N.U.) talked about how Jerusalem Day turned from a national holiday to a national religious one.

MK Swed (Hadash) slammed Netanyahu’s capitalistic economy and called for a communist government that would be for all citizens, not just Jews.

MK Horovitz (Meretz) praised J-Street and asked Netanyahu to take a hint from them and listen to President Obama.

MK Orbach (U.T.J.) asked Netanyahu to do more for the education of Arabs in eastern Jerusalem.

MK Zachalka (Balad) wondered what Netanyahu’s end game was for the peace process.

MK Yoel Hasson (Kadima) took out fake paper money with Bibi’s face on it and started to throw it on the floor from the Knesset podium. Other Kadima MKs also held up the fake money from their seats. Speaker Rivlin threw Hasson out of the room and forbid him from entering for Netanyahu’s speech.

Coalition Chairman MK Elkin (Likud) disclosed that the Chareidim begged him for half of what Kadima gave them in the previous government. Elkin said that Netanyahu said no, so Kadima should look at themselves in the mirror.

Discussion with Prime-Minister by power of 40 MKs’ Signatures

Netanyahu: We should stand united in the challenges Israel faces from the outside, whether it be the peace process with the Arabs or America.

Livni: The problems Israel faces are from the inside, not the outside. She charged Netanyahu of bribing his coalition partners in order to create a corrupt government that gives money to Chareidim and other interest groups. Livni stated that the only reason everyone is in the coalition is because they think that Netanyahu is lying to everyone else and they are the only ones who know the truth.

The Knesset accepted Netanyahu’s words by a 41-26 vote.

Motion on the connection between cell phones and cancer

MK Cohen (Shas) suggested Israel create a non-political study on the matter.

MK Amar (Y.B.) talked about two studies, one that said it is dangerous to live next to antennae and a second that said it was safer.

MK Maklev (U.T.J.) criticized Israelis who buy multiple cell phones and said because of the frequency of usage, we don’t need a study, we’ll know the results soon enough.

MK Shama (Likud) urged that the fact that our children are using cell phones should make us deal with the situation sooner, rather than later.

Communications Minister Kachalon (Likud) agreed with these four MKs on the urgency of the issue. The minister said he believed that more antennae would cause less radiation because the travel of the radio waves would be shorter. He agreed that a study should be performed to get to the bottom of the situation. Kachalon said he feels that there is no connection between cell phones and cancer.

MK Magadla (Labor) suggested the matter be brought to a committee.

The Knesset voted 7-0 and the motion was transferred to the Interior Committee.

Monday’s session went all night thanks to an opposition filibuster, but I’ll get into that with my next post. The two highlights of the day were MK Nisim Ze’ev’s U.N. “hasbara” and MK Bensimon’s allegations connecting assassinated Minister Ze’evi to assassinated former Prime Minister Rabin. On Monday the Knesset defeated two no confidence motions and passed three bills, two of them in their third readings. The two new laws extend the life of the army radio station for another year and enhance bank security for transactions involving large amounts of money.

Israel’s hasbara problem is well known, both internally and externally. Netanyahu went as far as creating a new ministry and appointing a close aide, Yuli Edelstein as the first Minister of Information and Diaspora, dealing with that exact purpose. It is unusual that a coalition MK would bring up such a sensitive issue during a no confidence vote, but that independence is something MK Nisim Ze’ev from Shas routinely demonstrates. Ze’ev was shocked when he learned that a United Nations high level official of twenty years had never heard of Israel’s biblical claim to Judea and Samaria. Elsa Stamatopoulou from Greece is Chief Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in the Division of Social Policy and Development as part of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs centered in the United Nations Headquarters. In a three page letter to Stamatopolou MK Ze’ev set the record straight including the usage of quotes from Israel’s bill of independence and other U.N. sources.  Apparently, the only message that Israeli hasbara members overseas bring up in the U.N. is to do strictly with security and not our biblical claim to the land, and this hurts us in many U.N. committees. I’d like to ask my loyal readers their opinion on this subject.

MK Bensimon was a respected journalist before he joined the Knesset as a member of Labor. It is going to be very difficult for people to respect him now after his speech during the no confidence vote, accusing assassinated Tourism Minister Ra’achavam Ze’evi of indirectly causing the assassination of Rabin. To give you some background, Rabin formed a minority government in 1992 with 58 seats between three parties (Labor, Meretz and Shas). The only way the government survived was through support from Arab opposition members. Ze’evi questioned the legality of a government that was not supported by a coalition of 61 MKs. MK Bensimon’s accusation today was that Ze’evi’s words influenced Yigal Shamir, who assassinated Rabin. This was the first accusation of this magnitude directed at Ze’evi and honestly seems like quite a stretch, directed to a former Minister and General who was also assassinated for his political beliefs.

No Confidence Motions

1) Kadima’s No Confidence Motion on the subject “the government’s intention to create an army learning center city in the Negev without giving priority to southern contractors and discriminating against prioritizing Israeli products without insisting on a worthy compensation package to the southern contractors and Israeli industry, in which preferring non-Israeli contractors and products, without giving proper compensation.”

MK Yisrael Chason (Kadima) complained that the government doesn’t do anything for the Galil. He also criticized the government for rushing the project in the Negev, saying they will do a good job in ten years instead of an excellent job in twenty years.

Minister Peled (Likud) was surprised that Chason talked about the Galil. Peled talked about how he helped the former SLA (Southern Lebanese Army), which Israel absorbed in 2000. Peled said the government has helped the Negev and the Galil plenty. The minister defended the new army city and the goal to complete the work as soon as possible. He expressed that in the long run it will help the Negev and questioned why Kadima would want to delay the project for ten years.

2) Joint No Confidence by Balad, Ra’am-Ta’al and Chadash on the subject “erosion of democracy in the shadow of an anti-democratic right-wing government”.

MK Agbaria (Chadash) criticized the election advertisements last year as racist against Arabs. He condemned the Israeli public for electing the right-wing parties. Agbaria questioned what the difference was between those parties and European anti-Jew parties? He also criticized the attempt to revoke the immunity of the Arab MKs who visited Libya and the destruction of Arab homes. Agbaria slammed the discrimination against all minorities including Ethiopians and Chareidim. He blasted all the Zionistic parties and praised his party’s platform of communism.

Minister Yishai (Shas) said he supported demolishing all illegal homes, not just Arab ones. He suggested Arabs try to legalize their homes as soon as possible. The minister said there was no country in the world that allowed minorities to legalize their illegal homes. He said we are forgiving, but we must keep the law.

Party Discussion and Vote

MK Mula (Kadima) blasted the fact that none of the 39 Ministers or Deputy Ministers were in the room. Speaker Rivlin allowed Mula to speak freely for the few minutes until a minister entered the room. Mula asked how the government could say that the army city is in the best interest of the Negev’s residents if they are going to hire Thai workers.

MK Rotem (Y.B.) slammed MK Agbaria for not staying to hear his response. He said that Agbaria was the one who was undemocratic. He asked what MK Agbaria considers racist about Yisrael Beitaynu’s proposal that citizens take an oath to the state they live in. Rotem explained that most of the Israeli Arabs are loyal to the State and criticized the Arab MKs of representing the Palestians instead of the Israeli Arabs who elected them. He said that every loyal Israeli Arab is a welcome citizen. Rotem concluded that Agbaria should be ashamed of calling Israel racist and undemocratic because there is no Arab country that would allow him to deliver such a speech against their government.

MK Ze’ev (Shas) condemned MK Zuabi (Balad) for traveling to be a part of the “Gaza Supply Ship” scandal. He asked MK Agbaria how he can preach democracy when he visits the undemocratic Kadafi in Libya. Ze’ev said we have a problem with our “hasbara”, citing issues within the U.N. where long term officials have no idea Judea and Samaria are a part of our biblical heritage. Below is a link to the letter,  just copy and paste in a new window to view.

https://knessetjeremy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/letter-to-united-nations-unpfii.doc

MK Ganem (Ra’am-Ta’al) said democracy is when a citizen is allowed to criticize his country without threat of having his citizenship revoked.

MK Ketzeleh (N.U.) suggested Israelis support the products that are being boycotted by the Palestinians and Israeli Arab communities, and blasted Netanyahu for not doing anything on the subject. He also criticized the government for not acting to stop the infiltrators from Sudan. Ketzeleh said that Eilat’s mayor cried to him that his city is no longer a Jewish city; it’s now a Muslim one. He warned that Tel Aviv will soon share Eilat’s fate.

MK Barakeh (Chadash) criticized the arrest of two political leaders of the Israeli Arab public on the count of treason. He called for the end of the “occupation”.

MK Oron (Meretz) slammed the attempt to revoke the immunity of the six Arab MKs who visited Libya. He likened the current issues with the Arab MKs to a time when he didn’t agree with one word of former MK Tzvi Hendel, but he never tried to have Hendel’s immunity revoked.

MK Orbach (U.T.J.) agreed with MK Oron that there was no reason to revoke the MKs immunity, but he criticized everyone who denied Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish country, calling them traitors.

MK Bensimon (Labor) accused former Minister Ra’achavam Ze’evi of killing former Prime Minister Rabin by questioning the legitimacy of Rabin’s government, which had fewer than 61 MKs but survived due to Arab MKs who supported the government from the opposition. He criticized MK Orbach for calling the Arab MKs traitors, and Orbach started defending himself. Deputy Speaker Vaknin (Shas) tried to restore order.

MK Zachalka (Balad) condemned the attempt to revoke Arab MKs immunity, calling it undemocratic.

MK Maklev (U.T.J.) criticized the discrimination against Chareidi society by the government offices and police.

MK Elkin (Likud) spoke in place of MK Tzipi Hotovely, who came late. Elkin argued if former MK Kahanah can be considered a traitor and have his immunity revoked, so can Israeli Arab MKs.

Kadima’s No Confidence motion was defeated 32-52 and the Arab MK motion was defeated 28-55.

Gali Tzahal Bill: Radio broadcasts of the Israel Defense Forces – Amendment.

MK Okinus (Likud) suggested extending the radio station Gali Tzahal for another year. He expressed hope that it will be extended again in the future.

The vote passed 54-2-1 in its second reading and 43-2 in its third reading.

Securities Bill Amendment

MK Gafni (U.T.J.) explained the bill would enhance bank security for large sums of money.

The bill passed 45-0-1 in its second reading and 44-0-1 in its third.

Israel‘s Heritage Authority Bill

Culture Minister Livnat (Likud) explained the need to keep Jewish heritages such as Ladino and Yiddish as part of our country. The bill would create a museum and authority to govern it.

MK Mula was angered that the Ethiopian heritage is included in the bill instead of standing on its own.

MK Ze’ev said Jewish heritage is about Torah, not about a museum or a Mordechai Vananu or an Anat Kam.

MK Yoel Chason (Kadima) said that spending money on heritage museums is wrong, but he is willing to discuss the matter in the committee.

MK Shitrit (Kadima) asked how Livnat would pick which heritages would be in the museum and which would be left out.

MK Amnon Cohen (Shas) charged that Livnat stole his bill.

MK Itzick (Kadima) congratulated Livnat’s bill.

MK Walhebe (Kadima) said that the Druze heritage bill fell because of money.

The Knesset voted in favor 35-0 in its first reading and was sent to the House committee.