Gideon Sa'ar and Idit Silman
Gideon Sa'ar and Idit SilmanOlivier Fitoussi & Yonatan Sindel/Flash90

Justice Minister Gideon Saar threatened today that he would bring down the government if the bill extending the term of enforcement of Israeli civil law in Judea and Samaria is not passed.

“Coalition members who vote against this law are basically saying ‘I don’t want this government to exist’,” Sa’ar said in an interview with Reshet Bet Tuesday morning.

“The vote next week will determine whether this coalition wants to continue to exist or not.”

Channel 12 News reported that the coalition expects MKs from the left-wing Meretz party and the Islamic Ra'am party to support the bill. The opposition has asked MK Idit Silman, who resigned as coalition chairwoman earlier this year, to vote against the bill.

If the coalition succeeds in getting all 60 members to support the bill, they will need Silman to vote for or abstain for the law to pass. If she votes against it, the bill will fail.

If she votes against the bill, Silman risks being declared a 'rebel' MK, a designation which would prevent her from running with any party currently in the Knesset in the next election.