Minister Itamar Ben Gvir
Minister Itamar Ben GvirYonatan Sindel/Flash90

The bill to apply sovereignty over the Jordan Valley, submitted by Yisrael Beytenu party chairman MK Avigdor Liberman, was put to a vote on Wednesday in the Knesset plenum.

Otzma Yehudit, headed by Knesset member Itamar Ben Gvir, voted in favor of the law, together with the opposition. The coalition opposed the law, as it did in the past, when Ben Gvir was a member of the coalition, and the law came up for a vote.

Liberman announced: "The application of Israeli sovereignty in the Jordan Valley is a vital step to strengthening security and ensuring our future as a nation in its land. We will lead this process with determination and without compromise."

After the vote Liberman said, "How symbolic. The government that has approved the ‘Evade the Draft Law’ is overthrowing the ‘Application of Sovereignty Law’. Netanyahu has proven once again that the security of his coalition takes precedence over the security of Israel. I will continue to put the law applying sovereignty to the Jordan Valley to vote, and in the next government I establish, the law will also pass."

In March 2023, the Knesset plenum rejected the law to apply sovereignty in the Jordan Valley, after the coalition headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voted against the bill. Coalition members voted against the bill.

Liberman's proposal was rejected by a majority of 65 to 14. As noted, almost all members of the coalition opposed the bill. One Knesset member, Noam Chairman Avi Maoz, did not obey the coalition's discipline and voted in favor of the bill.

Otzma Yehudit Knesset members, Limor Sohn Har-Melech, Almog Cohen, Zvika Fohgel and Yitzhak Kreuzer, chairman of the faction, who were in the coalition at the time, announced in response that they would submit a bill to apply Israeli sovereignty over the territories of Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley.

Regarding their vote against Liberman's proposal, they said, "From the outset, we had no intention of cooperating with the opposition’s harassing campaign, when they suddenly remembered that Judea and Samaria are important to them. Even more so, this was after eighteen months during which their government endlessly hounded the Jewish communities."