A new report aired on Thursday morning on Kan Reshet Bet has revealed that lawmakers from both the Yamina and the New Hope parties are dissatisfied with the government's decision to rely on votes from the predominantly Arab Joint List party, which sits in the opposition, in a number of Knesset votes. The government currently lacks a majority in the Knesset, which is split 60-60 following the defection of Yamina MK Idit Silman from the coalition.
This week, party chairmen from all the factions in the coalition met at the Knesset. Speaking for the Yamina party, MK Nir Orbach expressed his displeasure at the reliance on the Joint List, and said that he viewed the development as unacceptable.
"How does it look when we have to sit and hold discussions with the Joint List in order to get things passed?" he said. "We can't function like this."
However, the responses he received from other party heads were all a variation on the same theme: "There's no choice. We have to defeat opposition bills and so we just have to swallow hard and accept this, and that's all there is to it."
However, Orbach did find some support, from members of the New Hope party who clarified in closed conversations that they do not intend to let this development pass in silence for long. If reliance on the Joint List becomes a regular feature of governance, they say, it will likely divide and ultimately topple the government.
Speaking to Kan News on Wednesday, PM Naftali Bennett refused to reveal exactly what had been promised to the Ra'am (United Arab List) party in order to convince it to remain in the coalition. "We're a government of action," Bennett said, "a government that has good intentions and that seeks to distance itself from anything that doesn't contribute."