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TO ADVERTISE CALL 020 3906 8488 Coalition loses West Bank settler bill

BY DAVID SAFFER

Israel’s coalition has lost a major vote in the Knesset to extend legal jurisdiction to 500,000 Jewish settlers in the West Bank.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s under-fire government are expected to try pass the bill next week.

The bill failed by 58 votes to 52 following a heated debate on Monday night.

Temporary legislation followed the 1967 Six-Day War. It has to be re-approved every five years since then. The current deadline is the end of June.

Bennett hoped the bill would pass despite not having a Knesset majority. “We are continuing to build our country,” he said. “Some said we would not survive the first week of our coalition, but we’ve now marked the first year and it has been one of growth, low unemployment and security on our southern border. With G-d’s help we will survive this as well.”

“As always after we lose, we will return stronger and win in the next round,” Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said on Twitter.

Justice Minister Gideon Saar has reiterated that the bill is “fundamental legislation”.

Two members of the coalition, Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi of Meretz and Mazen Ghanaim of the United Arab List, voted against the bill. Three members of the UAL did not take part.

The bill failure has resulted in divided opinions throughout the week.

Yesha Council chairman David Elhayani blasted Netanyahu and his bloc for not backing the bill.“We’re talking about a bill that must be kept out of political bickering,” Elhayani reportedly said. “Ideology means little to Likud members.” He added, “I don’t see a way to convince Likud. They harm the settlements to advance their political interests and those of Netanyahu.”

Shai Alon, head of Beit El settlement, has called for the government to fall. “We disagree on saving this coalition that can’t function and fails to pass legislation every other day,” he reportedly said.

Religious Zionist Party MK Bezalel Smotrich also wants to bring down the coalition, form a right-wing government and then pass the bill.

Ra’am Party leader Mansour Abbasd described the coalition as a successful political experiment. “We formed a very special government,” Abbas told a conference at Reichman University. “Our challenge is to bring stability to the political system and continue as part of the coalition.”

He added, “The government is special because it includes an Arab party alongside Zionist ones, because it is able to operate and reach agreements on all sectors of Israeli society including the Arabs, with parties on the left and on the right.”

The coalition is being severely tested and there is speculation how long the it can prevail. A recent Kan TV poll illustrates a stalemate between Bennett and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

A pro-Netanyahu bloc would generate 60 seats, the current coalition 54 and Joint List has six seats.

Bennett’s coalition lost a bill proposed by Netanyahu’s opposition last night in its first hearing.

A number of coalition members backed legislation to raise the minimum wage from NIS 29.12 an hour to NIS 40. The bill passed with a majority of 23 votes.

Centre-left coalition parties Labour and Meretz defied Sa’ar appeals to back the coalition.

9 JUNE 2022

COVID-19 cases down globally

New COVID-19 cases and deaths globally have fallen except in the Middle East and Southeast Asia according to the latest weekly World Health Organisation pandemic report.

Cases rose in the Middle East surged 19% but just 1% in Southeast Asia. Deaths increased 7% in the Western Pacific and dropped elsewhere.

The UN health agency confirmed cases were just over three million and deaths around 7,600.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the overall dip as “a very encouraging trend” compared to the high of January 2022 but was cautious as the world learns to live with the deadly virus.

While vaccines are available demand has fallen and 68 countries have not protected 40% of populations. “The perception that the pandemic is over is understandable, but misguided,” he said. “A new and even more dangerous variant could emerge at any time, and vast numbers of people remain unprotected.”

WHO pointed out that data is likely to be underestimated and dependent on individual countries’ testing strategies.

WHO’s emergency head Dr. Michael Ryan reported that cases in North Korea have worsened. North Korea has not accepted offers of aid including vaccines from WHO and not shared detailed information about the outbreak.

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Continued from page 1 programme and conclude a deal on the table.

Iran rejected the resolution before the vote and warned of repercussions. Russia and China voted against the document.

Bennett met Grossi earlier this week in Jerusalem and expressed concern over Iran’s nuclear aspirations and warned that Israel would act if necessary against Iran. “We maintain the freedom to act against Iran at all times, and as is necessary, with or without a resumption of the 2015 nuclear deal,” he said. “What we say, we back up with action.”

Israel has adopted a tougher strategy to counter the threat of Iran.

Bennett told the Knesset defence committee this week that Iran would no longer have immunity when it strikes the State of Israel or spreads terrorism through proxies.

“The past year has seen a strategic change in Israeli policy on Iran,” Bennett told the committee. “Israel is operating against the many tentacles of Iranian terror, not only as it has done in past decades. The days of Iran having immunity when it strikes against Israel and spreads its terrorism via proxies, are gone. We are operating everywhere and all the time, and will continue to do so.”

He added, “In recent years Iran has crossed red lines, especially last April, months before this government came to power, when it began enriching uranium to 60% with no international response. Israel cannot and will not accept such a situation.”

Bennett claimed Iran continues to lie about its nuclear program on Tuesday.

Utilising files, allegedly stolen by Mossad, he observed, “Iran stole classified (IAEA) documents and used that information to systematically evade nuclear probes. How do we know? Because we got our hands on Iran’s deception plan a few years back.”

Hundreds of pages in Persian are marked with a stamp of Iran’s Intelligence Ministry including handwritten notes on documents by senior Iranian officials, Bennett added.

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