After many hours of debates and political drama the Knesset approved in second and third readings the referendum law which requires a public majority and the votes of 60 Knesset members ahead of any withdrawal from the Golan Heights or east Jerusalem. Sixty-five MKs voted in favor of the bill and 33 opposed.
Among the MKs who voted in favor of the bill, 26 were from the Likud, seven from the National Union and Habayit Hayehudi, 11 from Shas, 13 from Yisrael Beiteinu, Minister Shalom Simhon and Matan Vilani from the Labor, and three MKs from the United Torah Judaism. Labor ministers Ehud Barak, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, Avishai Braverman and Yitzhak Herzog did not attend the vote.
(Read More: Ynet)
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4 Responses
There seems to have been a difference of opinion within Yahadut HaTorah with the Aguda members voting for this bill and the Degel members abstaining. Even though all parties agree that a national referendum in this case is a positive thing, the Degel faction is petrified that the Left will counteract with demands to refer to referendum other matters like army service for yeshiva students or public transport on Shabbos etc etc. This is a serious worry that a precedent like this where the law now bypasses the knesset and refers straight to the people can cause serious ramifications in other (perhaps more important) issues. Even Shas who voted for the law today agree that they are concerned for this possible outcome but they feel that the need to protect Yerushalayim is more important today.
True honesty Where do you get your info from? It sounds good but is it accurate? Answer with true honesty pls
The law doesn’t have that much teeth as it appears. The Knesset with a simple majority can vote to void the “Jerusalem-Golan National Referendum Law”.
No.2 Shticky Guy: This is an old story that has come up previously regarding the idea of National Referendum. I was actually mistaken and the 2 Degel MK’s voted against the law according to the directives of the Gedolim they consulted. In today’s Hebrew Yated there is a long article about it but this was common knowledge before too. If any questions of yiddishkeit are brought to referendum, the chances of passing it positively are very slim. For this reason, the Gedolim instructed them to vote against any National Referendum for any subject.