Likud Beytenu, Bayit Yehudi skip out on vote to keep Jerusalem whole

[CAN ANYONE EXPLAIN THIS?]

The proposal would require 80 MKs to vote for negotiations to divide Jerusalem; most right-wing lawmakers were no shows.
MK Nissan Smolanski and Housing Minister Uri Ariel inaugurate the building of housing units.

Most right-wing lawmakers on Wednesday skipped a vote on a bill that would require two-thirds of the Knesset’s approval before the government could negotiate on Jerusalem’s status.

The bill, proposed by United Torah Judaism MK Ya’acov Litzman, was voted down with 12 MKs in favor and 51 opposed.

Litzman’s proposal would require 80 MKs to vote in favor of negotiations to divide Jerusalem in order for them to proceed.

“It cannot be that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will break the promise he made at this stage, that Jerusalem is non-negotiable,” Litzman said.

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni said the government opposes the bill, calling it a “cynical use of the most important place to every Jew, in order to embarrass the coalition. Jerusalem is not just a capital and our connection to it is not just religious, nor is it monopolized by one party.”

Livni also said peace talks will come to an end if the bill passes, and that would be more harmful to Israel than dividing Jerusalem.

Litzman said he does not believe Livni is representing the government, because “if Netanyahu agreed with that, he would be the head of Meretz, not the Likud. That is not the Likud position.”

“Unfortunately, those who call themselves a right-wing government decided to give up on an opportunity to protect Jerusalem, the eternal, united capital of the Jewish people,” Shas leader Arye Deri said.

The bill was approved by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday, with the support of Likud Beytenu and Bayit Yehudi ministers, but Hatnua and Yesh Atid ministers appealed the vote.

The parties supporting the bill walked out on Wednesday, rather than vote against a measure to make it more difficult to divide Jerusalem.

No Bayit Yehudi MKs were in the room, though many, including party head Economy Minister Naftali Bennett, were spotted in the adjacent cafeteria shortly before voting began.

Senior party sources said it was unfortunate Litzman didn’t coordinate with Bayit Yehudi, because now the bill will be buried for months.

“The coalition opposed the bill, but Bayit Yehudi and the Likud refused to vote against it. MK Litzman harmed Jerusalem by bringing the bill to a vote, and he knows it,” a Bayit Yehudi spokesman said.

Similarly, MK Reuven Rivlin (Likud Beytenu) said before the vote that he is concerned that if the bill does not pass, it will look like the Knesset approved of dividing Jerusalem.

The only Likud Beytenu lawmakers present for the vote were MK Moshe Feiglin, who voted in favor, and Home Front Defense Minister Gilad Erdan and Rivlin, who announced they were not participating.

A senior Likud source said MKs were preparing for the party’s convention Wednesday evening, but many were still in the Knesset building at the time of the vote.

One Yesh Atid MK, Pnina Tamnu-Shata, did not vote with the coalition, choosing instead to abstain, with permission from party leader Yair Lapid.

December 19, 2013 | 9 Comments »

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9 Comments / 9 Comments

  1. @ bernard ross:

    If the existing law as you say has no enforceability the bill voted down were it passed wouldn’t either. It might have led to a stimulating public debate and upset all the goy Jews in the diaspora, the Israeli and World leftist and their leaders but would have had no effect impact on any final agreements. Our leasers through polling know what the public’s position is without such parliamentary games and that’s what it would have amounted to. The religious parties in opposition did it to embarrass the Likud and Bayit Yehudi. If it ever came to a vote where they believed the coalition would vote for it they would have voted against. They are not nationalist parties but Galut Religious parties participating in the democratic process for the sole purpose of milking the trasury for their own parochial needs. Don’t read more into this event than is warranted.-

  2. yamit82 Said:

    There is already a law re: to negotiating and ceding Israeli sovereign territory: If Jerusalem is on the table for discussions then BB is in violation of Israeli laws:

    it appears to have no enforceability. This bill called for 2/3’s rather than a majority. In my opinion the right is only the right, regarding YS, when it involves words only.

    I suspect that everything taking place so far is exactly how it will take place at the end: no real opposition to ceding jewish patrimony from anyone. They will all follow BB’s line. I hope I am wrong and that Israel will stand against the ceding of Jewish patrimony.

  3. @ drjb:

    The vote had no relevancy to jerusalem or the peace process but was a consequence of internal political party posturing.

    There is already a law re: to negotiating and ceding Israeli sovereign territory:

    If Jerusalem is on the table for discussions then BB is in violation of Israeli laws:

    Section B: Treason

    97 (a). A person who, with intent to violate the sovereignty of the state, commits an act that has the potential to violate the state’s sovereignty is liable to life imprisonment or the death penalty.

    97 (b). A person who, with intent that any area be withdrawn from the sovereignty of the state or placed under the sovereignty of a foreign state, commits an act that has the potential to bring this about is liable to life imprisonment or the death penalty…

    100. A person who commits an act revealing any one of the intentions listed in sections 97, 98 or 99 is liable to ten years imprisonment.

    Seems to me the intent by BB is a given!!!!!

    Moshe Feiglin: Why was I the Only Coalition MK to Vote in Favor of the Jerusalem Bill?

  4. drjb Said:

    And this, sadly, speaks volumes of his [Feiglin’s] lack of leadership.

    I disagree with you.

    It speaks volumes of the loyal Jewish Israeli voting public’s being a mass of stupid Jews. Manhigut Yehudit doesn’t work in a democratic political system without the voters choosing their leader.

    This is what the public chose. This is what they got. In that sense, it’s no different than the stupid Americans who voted not once but twice for Obama. And in that sense, I’m proud to say that Americans would appear to be stupider than Israelis.

  5. After seeing this poor display by the Israeli Right, I can convincingly declare that all is lost.
    Israel will be divided according to Obama’s wishes. At best, and I mean at best, Israel may get some minor accommodations re Judea, Samaria. Jerusalem will be redivided. At most, the Jews will get to pray at the Kotel and live in the Jewish quarter of the Old City. Most religious Israelis won’t give a dam as long as their Yeshivas are well funded and they get to skip the army. They don’t pray in the Temple Mount, so nothing’s lost on that front. Most secular Israelis don’t give a dam about Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem (other than the Kotel which they visit once in their life times for a family bar mitzvah)so they won’t mind that either.
    The National Religious, except for Feiglin, have proven to be the most useless idiots in the Knesset. Useless sheep afraid of their own shadows. They all talk about the importance of the Land, Torah values, our roots and Heritage, and every time they have an opportunity to “walk the talk” they fail. They’re very “brave” and tough until it counts, and then they disappear! They never fail to fail.
    The ONLY one in the National Religious/Likud who does what he says is Feiglin. He has continuously been right on every single front and controversial issue. He voted against the budget to prevent the release of Palestinian murderers and tried to persuade the rest of the “Hawks” in Likud, Bayt, YB, etc, to follow his path, they failed him, and the murderers were released “with heavy hearts” of all the Hawks.
    The only one raising hell about Temple Mount, Feiglin. His actions have made it evidently clear that the government has abandoned Temple Mount while still pretending to care.
    The only one in the National Camp who voted for Jerusalem and who openly says this is our land and we will not give it away. Against the Oslo accords and the two state solution. For the release of Pollard, etc, etc, etc.

    A true Hebrew in that he stands alone “in the other side”, but mostly in the right side. Too bad he has not been able to translate his wisdom and brilliance into anything of consequence. He has failed to be a leader in the true sense of the word; has failed to garner enough support to translate his ideas into action. Rarely is a politician so right in his views and yet so alone “when push comes to shove”. And this, sadly, speaks volumes of his lack of leadership.
    So, if Bibi is the best the Right can do, the game is over.
    Welcome to the New Sate of Israel, sans Judea and Samaria, Capital city Tel Aviv.
    No time for tears, the beaches are nice, surf’s up and the cholent is yummy.
    Will the Jews living in the new Galut (Judea and Samaria) be obligated to keep two days of chag in Pesah, Shavuot and Sukkot??

  6. Netanyahu threatened to fire them if they voted for the bill so they skipped the vote.

    There is no one in Israel who can stand up to him. They don’t want to lose their cushy ministerial posts.

    When it comes to proving their dedication to the Land Of Israel, they’ve shown themselves to be a veritable fraud.

    At least the Israeli Left stands for something even if its not in Israel’s interets.

  7. Regardless of their disappearance during the vote, can one image a vote intended to divide Paris, London or Washington?

    What will be the fate of the so-called “Basic Law: JERUSALEM, CAPITAL OF ISRAEL”?

    We can hear Arabs laughing uproariously and applauding. One might be tempted to laugh too if it were not so tragic.

    Israel is not ruled by lawmakers, but by a bunch of godless lawbreakers.