A bill by the opposition to raise the national minimum wage passed in its first hearing in the Knesset on Wednesday after several coalition members rebelled against party discipline, further shaking the already-fragile governing alliance following a similar incident earlier this week.
The proposal, which was tabled by the Joint List, seeks to raise the minimum wage from NIS 29.12 ($8.75) an hour to NIS 40 ($12).
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Joint List MK Ahmad Tibi holds up a notepad with the number 40 scribbled onto it as a bill to raise the national minimum wage to NIS 40 an hour he sponsored goes up for vote in the Knesset plenum
(Photo: Yoav Dudkevitch)
It passed with a majority of 23 votes in favor to four opposing after lawmakers from center-left coalition parties Labor and Meretz left the plenum despite Justice Minister Gideon Sa'ar calling to uphold coalition discipline.
Both parties claim they were granted permission to leave the plenum during the vote and regard Sa'ar's veto as a form of rebellion against them.
Meretz MK Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi, who has been a wild card since her resignation from the coalition and swift return last month, voted in favor of the bill.
This is the second time the renegade lawmaker voted against her coalition's wishes in three days after she also voted against renewing a bill extending legal protections to Jewish West Bank settlers on Monday.
She was joined on Wednesday's vote by Ra'am MK Mazen Ghanaim, who also joined in defeating the settler bill, and fellow Ra'am lawmakers MK Waleed Taha and MK Eman Khatib-Yassin.
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Campaign to raise the national minimum wage to NIS 40 an hour
(Photo: Standing Together)
Meanwhile, Sa'ar said he will give the government one final chance to approve the contentious settler bill in a last-ditch effort to keep the fractured coalition in power.
In a series of TV interviews, the conservative lawmaker said that he will resubmit the bill next Sunday.
Sa'ar called on his fellow coalition members to get in line or to exit the government — a scenario that would likely plunge the country into a fifth election in just three years.
"As long as they don't make order in their own party, as far as we are concerned, they aren't part of the coalition," he told public broadcaster Kan late Tuesday.
The bill was seen as a major test for the coalition, comprised of parties from across the political spectrum, and its defeat has raised questions about the government's long-term viability.
Israeli media said that the renegade coalition lawmakers who didn't support the bill are being pressured to change their minds or resign to make way for those who would vote in favor.
Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War but has never officially annexed the territory. Emergency regulations in place for decades apply parts of Israeli law to Jewish settlers in the West Bank.
These regulations expire at the end of the month and if they are not renewed, that legal system will be thrown into question. It could also change the legal status of the 500,000 settlers living there.
Critics, including the Palestinians and three prominent human rights groups, have said the situation amounts to apartheid, an allegation Israel rejects as an assault on its legitimacy.
The coalition includes nationalistic parties that are strong supporters of the settlements, as well as dovish parties that oppose them. The alliance is the first in Israel's history to include an Arab party, the Islamist Ra'am, whose members abstained or opposed the bill on Monday.
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Yamina MK Idit Silman (left) with Meretz MKs Ghaida Rinawie-Zoabi (center) and Mossi Raz
(Photo: Yoav Dudkevitch)
Sa'ar, who heads a small pro-settler party, directed much of his criticism at Ra'am. "From my perspective, Ra'am has not behaved like a party in the coalition and will pay a price for that," he told Channel 13 TV.
There was no indication as to whether Ra'am's members would change how they voted. Rinawie Zoabi said Wednesday she remained opposed.
The coalition was formed a year ago, bringing together eight parties that have little in common beyond their shared animosity to former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is now the opposition leader. After a series of coalition defections, parliament is evenly divided 60-60 between the coalition and opposition.
In some ways, Monday's vote had less to do with the status of the settlers than with the status of the government. The opposition is dominated by allies of the settlers, yet voted against the legislation and the interests of their constituents in hopes of speeding up the collapse of the government. Dovish members of the government, meanwhile, voted in favor of the bill to shore up the coalition, despite their opposition to the settlements.
If the bill fails again next week, the government would not immediately collapse. But the fissures in the coalition will be difficult to mend and its days could be numbered.
"The government now would find it very difficult to manage the ongoing affairs of state, let alone instigate and initiate major reforms and so on," said Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute, an Israeli think tank. "In this respect, it's a missing government, it's a very problematic situation for the government."