Binyamin Netanyahu
Binyamin NetanyahuElior Cohen/TPS

Prime Minister Netanyahu has prevented a vote in the Ministerial Committee for Legislation on a bill which seeks to gradually apply Israeli sovereignty to communities across Judea and Samaria.

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation, which brings together party leaders from the coalition every Sunday, determines which proposals are adopted by the coalition, and which are not.

Coalition members are obliged to back bills supported by the committee, effectively guaranteeing passage.

The bill, submitted by MK Yoav Kish (Likud) was supposed to have been brought to a vote in the committee this Sunday, but the Prime Minister instructed to hold off on the bill’s approval.

Tourism Minister Yariv Levin (Likud) told Arutz Sheva that the bill will be brought for a discussion in the meeting of coalition heads, but not in the Ministerial Committee for Legislation until Israel coordinates its activities on the matter with the Trump administration.

This morning, Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel (Jewish Home) told Arutz Sheva that he promised that the Jewish Home Party would act with all the political power at its disposal to promote the application of sovereignty.

"We know that the prime minister has not yet made a final decision, and without it, it will not happen. Mr. Prime Minister, the time has come. The Likud Central Committee approved this, all the parties in the coalition are in favor of it. Give the green light to move forward in order to get to a much better place in sovereignty over our country.”

"We will act with all our political and public power so that this law will indeed pass this Sunday," Minister Ariel emphasized.

Earlier this week, head of the Jewish Home Faction Shuli Moalem-Refaeli said that if the sovereignty bill is not advanced within the next half-year, she is “not sure that we have a point to the current government.”

“We must cut off the hope of the Palestinians for the establishment of a Palestinian state,” she told Arutz Sheva. “If we apply sovereignty, we will be making a clear statement - there will be no Palestinian state here.”

“In the end, there is no minister in the Ministerial Committee for Legislation or MK sitting in the coalition who thinks that we shouldn’t apply sovereignty, certainly over Area C [under exclusive Israeli control according to the Oslo Accords], but whether the Prime Minister will allow it to advance - this I don’t know,” Moalem-Refaeli said.