Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin (r) and Benny Gantz (l)
Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin (r) and Benny Gantz (l)צילום: דוברות הכנסת - שמוליק גרוסמן

The Knesset voted Sunday afternoon to increase fines imposed for violations of the national lockdown, paving the way for a government resolution to extend the ongoing lockdown.

Forty-two MKs voted in favor of the bill increasing fines, with 18 MKs voting against. The bill was passed in its second and third readings, passing it into law.

Public institutions, such as schools, which violate the coronavirus lockdown will now face 10,000-shekel fines.

The bill also makes it easier for police to forcibly close such institutions.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz had demanded the bill’s passage before agreeing to have the government deliberate on a one-week extension of the lockdown.

With the Knesset’s support for the increased fines, the government is now set to convene to deliberate on the one-week extension, which it is expected to pass Sunday evening.

During the vote Sunday, Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin (Likud) slammed Gantz over his ultimatum that the law increasing fines be passed, or else the lockdown extension blocked.

Gantz “made a huge mistake. You simply do not make an ultimatum in the middle of a Knesset recess.”

By threatening to block the lockdown extension, Levin continued, Gantz “held Israeli citizens by the throat and the Knesset by the throat, saying that if we don’t convene the Knesset plenum, without authority, that he will block a government decision for the extension of the lockdown, leading to the spreading of the virus.”

“Unfortunately, you didn’t accept the offer I made which would have preserved the Knesset’s honor and procedures, and the rights of the minority [of lawmakers] who oppose this law and want to be present in the plenum.”

גנץ משיב ליו"ר הכנסת יריב לוין על הנזיפה

Gantz fired back, saying: “I understand that you’re trying to embarrass me with your address. But for the past two months this bill has been ready in the government, but you didn’t make sure it went up for a vote in time, as was necessary.”

Gantz added that in the government meeting Sunday regarding the extension of the lockdown, he will “demand a return to the ‘traffic light’ model,” referring to the differential lockdown, with stricter restrictions for areas with the highest infection levels, and lighter restrictions on areas with lower infection rates.

“That means we’ll start a staggered reopening and differential [restrictions] based on the infection rates in towns and the percentage of people who have been vaccinated in them.”