MK Zeev Elkin
MK Zeev ElkinLikud

 

Coalition Chairman MK Ze’ev Elkin (Likud) put on a brave face Thursday despite suffering a setback the day before, with the defeat of bills to establish committees of inquiry into NGO funding.
 
The Knesset will continue to fight ultra-leftist NGOs, he told Arutz Sheva’s Hebrew language service.
 
“What happened yesterday in the Knesset was no surprise,” he said. I supported the proposals for establishing committees of inquiry but the government did not have a unified stand on the matter.
 
"As a matter of fact, the bill failed once the Prime Minister allowed the Likud MKs freedom to vote as they saw fit. The Likud faction supported the establishment of the committees, but allowed Ministers Meridor, Eitan and Begin and Speaker Rivlin freedom to vote otherwise.
Let me remind you that the Jewish Home faction in its entirety was absent from the plenum, and not by coincidence."
 
Elkin noted that there have been successes as well. Six months ago, he said, the Knesset approved a bill that requires transparency of foreign states’ funding of political bodies. Since then, he said, several countries have already canceled their support for political bodies.