The five include three freshmen MKs of Labor - Yoram Marciano, Shelly Yechimovitch, and Nadia Hilu - as well as Labor MK Danny Yatom and Pensioner Party faction chairman Moshe Sharoni. Hilu is the first Arab woman ever elected to the Knesset; others have been named to the Knesset as replacements.
Their objections stem from the government's Saturday night decision to raise the price of bread by over 7%.
Sharoni told Arutz-7's Hebrew newsmagazine today that Kadima had already, just a few days after the formation of its government, violated its agreement with the Pensioners Party: "The agreement was that they would consult with us before making decisions of this nature - which they did not do."
When told that coalition faction leader MK Avigdor Yitzchaki of Kadima had said that Sharoni was speaking only for himself in threatening to vote against, Sharoni said, "Yitzchaki is not the chairman of my faction; I am. And I can tell you that if we do not receive some sort of compensation - in the form of subsidies for the increase in bread prices, for instance - we will vote against the budget on Wednesday."
MK Yechimovitch said, "This is a move that hurts only the poor, not the rich... If they have to raise the price, then at least provide subsidies." She also said, "I did not enter politics in order to vote for a Netanyahu budget" - referring to the fact that the budget was prepared last year by Binyamin Netanyahu when he was still Finance Minister. The current government plans to introduce changes before the budget bill's final Knesset readings nearly six weeks from now.
MK Marciano had stinging criticism of Ehud Olmert for the abrupt price increase. Marciano called Olmert a "thief in the night" for having "signed the order at night without even giving any prior hint of such in his Knesset speech just two days before."
Interior Minister Roni Bar-On (Kadima) (pictured) said in response to the charges that there was no choice but to raise the price of bread. He said that the price of bread's ingredients have long been rising, and that the bakeries were no longer able to absorb the costs. He also noted that the current subsidies policy is no longer to subsidize a product, as is demanded for bread in this case, but to subsidize the needy consumers in the form of increased welfare payments.
In a slightly ominous tone, Bar-On also said he was "confident" that in the end, there would be few or no manifestations of MKs breaking coalition discipline.
Because of the fall of the Sharon government late last year and the resultant new elections, the country has gone budget-less since January 1. The country has been running since then on a month-to-month basis, based on last year's budget.
The budget that is now up for vote, a 284.2 billion shekel package, was approved by the cabinet on Sunday, along with the Economic Arrangements Law.
The two-delay in the Knesset vote on the budget was reported to be a compromise reached between the coalition and opposition, and to allow the MKs to familiarize themselves with the 1,000-page budget bill. Some analysts say, however, that the purpose was to provide time to avoid the embarrassment of wayward coalition-MK votes.
In other coalition news, MK Yitzchaki presented a document to the Knesset House Committee, in which is indicated that the Arab parties will not have a representative in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. The temporary version of this committee, established shortly after the elections, included Arab MK Taleb A-Sana, who caused a storm of controversy when he met with Hamas leaders and demanded to see the nuclear reactor in Dimona.
Their objections stem from the government's Saturday night decision to raise the price of bread by over 7%.
Sharoni told Arutz-7's Hebrew newsmagazine today that Kadima had already, just a few days after the formation of its government, violated its agreement with the Pensioners Party: "The agreement was that they would consult with us before making decisions of this nature - which they did not do."
When told that coalition faction leader MK Avigdor Yitzchaki of Kadima had said that Sharoni was speaking only for himself in threatening to vote against, Sharoni said, "Yitzchaki is not the chairman of my faction; I am. And I can tell you that if we do not receive some sort of compensation - in the form of subsidies for the increase in bread prices, for instance - we will vote against the budget on Wednesday."
MK Yechimovitch said, "This is a move that hurts only the poor, not the rich... If they have to raise the price, then at least provide subsidies." She also said, "I did not enter politics in order to vote for a Netanyahu budget" - referring to the fact that the budget was prepared last year by Binyamin Netanyahu when he was still Finance Minister. The current government plans to introduce changes before the budget bill's final Knesset readings nearly six weeks from now.
MK Marciano had stinging criticism of Ehud Olmert for the abrupt price increase. Marciano called Olmert a "thief in the night" for having "signed the order at night without even giving any prior hint of such in his Knesset speech just two days before."
Interior Minister Roni Bar-On (Kadima) (pictured) said in response to the charges that there was no choice but to raise the price of bread. He said that the price of bread's ingredients have long been rising, and that the bakeries were no longer able to absorb the costs. He also noted that the current subsidies policy is no longer to subsidize a product, as is demanded for bread in this case, but to subsidize the needy consumers in the form of increased welfare payments.
In a slightly ominous tone, Bar-On also said he was "confident" that in the end, there would be few or no manifestations of MKs breaking coalition discipline.
Because of the fall of the Sharon government late last year and the resultant new elections, the country has gone budget-less since January 1. The country has been running since then on a month-to-month basis, based on last year's budget.
The budget that is now up for vote, a 284.2 billion shekel package, was approved by the cabinet on Sunday, along with the Economic Arrangements Law.
The two-delay in the Knesset vote on the budget was reported to be a compromise reached between the coalition and opposition, and to allow the MKs to familiarize themselves with the 1,000-page budget bill. Some analysts say, however, that the purpose was to provide time to avoid the embarrassment of wayward coalition-MK votes.
In other coalition news, MK Yitzchaki presented a document to the Knesset House Committee, in which is indicated that the Arab parties will not have a representative in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. The temporary version of this committee, established shortly after the elections, included Arab MK Taleb A-Sana, who caused a storm of controversy when he met with Hamas leaders and demanded to see the nuclear reactor in Dimona.