A stormy discussion took place in the Knesset’s Arrangements Committee on Wednesday morning in the wake of the new government’s controversial decision on Tuesday to suspend all private bills by individual MKs for the next month.

The decision, which applies to both the coalition and opposition, was made in order to minimize challenges to the newly sworn-in coalition, which has only a narrow majority of 61 MKs with vastly different approaches to many issues.

Right-wing MKs excoriated the move, and during the discussion, the committee’s acting chairman, MK Boaz Toporovsky (Yesh Atid), expelled MKs from the opposition one after the other, including UTJ MKs Yitzchak Pindrus and Yaakov Asher, Shas MK Yaakov Margi, Likud MKs Miki Zohar, Shlomo Karhi, Etty Atia, Galit-Distel Atbaryan and Keti Shitrit, and Religious Zionist Party MKs Orit Strook and Simcha Rothman.

“This is what a paralyzed government looks like, not dealing with disputed issues, not advancing political processes, and in the next month no submitting private bills,” Shas MK Yoav Ben-Tzur said in response to the decision. “It’s not just a minority government anymore, it’s a paralyzed government.”

“The left-wing dictatorship has gone into action on its first day, closing mouths, hindering the work of the Knesset and the functioning of the opposition,” MK Itamar Ben-Gvir said. “It’s outrageous – a left-wing coalition is afraid to deal with private bills despite the fact that they’re basic tools of the Knesset on behalf of the public.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)