Lapid to Coalition MKs: Vote with Us or Leave

By Yisrael Price

YERUSHALAYIM – Foreign Minister and Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid issued an ultimatum to coalition members who voted against the Yehuda and Shomron law bill on Monday, saying that if they can’t support the coalition agenda, they are welcome to leave, according to media reports.

“Such people need to make decisions,” Lapid said. “Whoever cannot live with the coalition should leave. Whoever can should be obligated by its decisions. This is true for every party and every MK in the coalition,” he said at a press conference in Jaffa.

The remarks came after the government lost a crucial vote, 58-52, to renew the application of Israeli law on Jewish residents of Yehuda and Shomron. The current law expires at the end of the month, and if allowed to do so, it is feared that chaotic conditions will ensue in the region.

Lapid was referring to Meretz MK Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi and Ra’am (United Arab List) MK Mazen Ghanaim, both of whom have told confidants that they are considering leaving the Knesset, according to The Jerusalem Post.

Zoabi briefly quit the coalition recently over its handling of matters in Yerushalayim, and Lapid himself reportedly led the effort to bring her back into the coalition, promising to make good on funding for Arab communities in Israel that had yet to be transferred, as the coalition agreements of a year ago called for.

In Monday’s roll-call vote, Zoabi gave a demonstrative thumbs down for the cameras as she cast her vote with the opposition.

The get-tough approach was being used on Ra’am, which was told that none of its bills would get coalition backing until the Yehuda and Shomron law bill is passed. Plans are to reintroduce it for another vote on Monday.

Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar was set to convene his New Hope party later Tuesday to discuss what future, if any, it has within the current coalition, according to media reports. Sa’ar had threatened that if the bill did not pass, the government would be finished; but he did not say what steps he would take. Ahead of the vote, Lapid reportedly spoke with Sa’ar to ask him not to act until a revote could be held if it was defeated, but Sa’ar’s response was not reported.

Meanwhile, Sa’ar had a scathing comment for the opposition: “People who define themselves as ‘right-wing’ are voting against the ability of Israel to rule in Yehuda and Shomron. They are in fact saying, ‘I’m in the opposition now so I’ll vote against everything and the country can burn,’” Sa’ar was quoted as saying by Ynet.

Opposition leaders have said that toppling the Bennett-Lapid government was their overriding concern. Likud MK Yaakov Kirsch said that they have no intention of abandoning the Jewish communities of Yehuda and Shomron, and will renew the law as soon as “they are back” in power.