A months-long feud between the coalition parties Otzma Yehudit and Shas flared up on Monday as Israel’s Knesset plenum convened for a rare August session.
The plenum may convene during the Knesset’s summer recess following a special process initiated by either the government or a group of at least 25 Knesset members.
Knesset speaker MK Amir Ohana (Likud) set two plenum sessions this week, on Monday and Tuesday, after the government requested that the Knesset advance a number of bills and over 25 MKs from the opposition demanded discussions about the security situation.
Otzma Yehudit said in a statement that the Likud had threatened to remove a number of its bills from the agenda if it did not support a bill sponsored by Shas, known as the “Religious Councils Bill” or the “Rabbis Bill.” Otzma Yehudit chairman national security minister MK Itamar Ben-Gvir has conditioned his party’s support for the Shas bill on him becoming part of the inner decision-making circle regarding the ongoing war.
The Shas bill, which as of 1:00 p.m. on Monday was still on the plenum’s agenda, stipulates that the government can create and fund religious service jobs in municipalities and regional councils, in addition to jobs provided by the municipality itself. Shas has said that the bill’s purpose is to increase and improve religious services, but opponents of the bill have argued that its real intention is to enable Shas, which controls the religious affairs ministry, to appoint an unlimited number of its members to government-paying jobs. The bill is scheduled to pass a vote for its first reading.
Bills were scheduled to face second and third readings
The Otzma Yehudit bills, which the Likud was allegedly threatening to remove from the agenda, were all scheduled to face their second and third readings on Monday and become law.
The bills included a measure to enable the imprisonment until the end of proceedings of minors under the age of 14 suspected of violent acts of terror, as well as to enable courts to give them active prison sentences. Another measure aims to expand a law that bars sex offenders from approaching the vicinity of their victims so that it applies to sex offenders under the age of 14.
Additionally, a bill proposes to enable regional courts to issue administrative detention orders to suspected members of criminal gangs who are deemed dangerous.
