The Second Session of the 18th Knesset – expected to be stormy – begins Monday afternoon with speeches by President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin (Likud) will pound the opening gavel at 4 p.m., followed by an address by President Peres. Prime Minister Netanyahu will deliver a special diplomatic speech, and Rivlin and Opposition Leader Tzipi Livni of the Kadima Party will also speak.
The speeches will be followed by a vote on a no-confidence motion advanced by the opposition parties. The Netanyahu government, backed by a 74-Knesset Member majority of the 120-member parliament, is expected to pass this hurdle easily.
The five parties in the government are the Likud (27 MKs), Israel Our Home (15), Labor (13), Shas (11), United Torah Judaism (5) and Jewish Home (3). Four Labor MKs are not quite stalwart supporters of either the government or their own party leadership, and are in fact threatening to split off and form their own party – if they find a fifth party MK who will join them and enable them to do so.
Netanyahu Provides Preview
Speaking early Monday afternoon at the Likud faction meeting, Netanyahu said he hopes to renew talks with the Palestinian Authority “in an unconditional manner.” The second challenge in the coming months, he said, is “the Goldstone Report – which must be understood in the context of a complete package of international efforts to negate Israel’s right to defend itself. We must concentrate our efforts on all levels to rebuff this danger.”
Netanyahu also referred to his plans to reform construction guidelines in Israel, the importance of unity in the Likud, and the “lies of an extremist Arab minority as if we are trying to build under the Temple Mount.”
Issues in the Knesset
Among the issues to be debated in the coming Knesset winter session are: Iran, a referendum on the Golan Heights, a possible construction freeze in Judea and Samaria, changes in the electoral process, legislative proposals against MKs who “act against Israeli democracy,” the possible outlawing of the Islamic Movement, a proposal by Speaker Rivlin to increase the number of MKs to 150, the biometric-ID data bank, and more.
Opposition head MK Livni clarified, at a Kadima party faction meeting before the opening of the Knesset session, that she heads “the opposition to the Netanyahu government, not to the State of Israel.”
Likud MK Ze’ev Elkin, the coalition whip in the Knesset, said on Monday that he expects this coming session to be long (five months) and arduous. He said he would push for increased construction in Judea and Samaria. Many Likud MKs have made similar promises; it remains to be seen whether they will have to fight their party leader Netanyahu as he faces heavy American pressure on this matter.