B"H the Land Reform bill didn't pass; ask yourselves, WHY is this bill SO important to Bibi that he is ready to sack his MK's over it? WHO IS HOLDING A SWORD OVER HIS NECK? WHO HAS THE MOST TO LOSE? First of all the POPE - then the arabs

Av 1, 5769, 22 July 09 07:36by Gil Ronen

(Israelnationalnews.com) Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu threatened Wednesday to sack ministers and deputy ministers who vote against the Land Privatization Bill and the "laws of governance" scheduled to come up for a vote soon.

The Prime Minister's Office announced this unusual threat after the coalition suffered an embarrassing setback Wednesday when it was forced to halt the voting on the Land Privatization Bill, for fear that it lacked the votes to pass it.

The government plans to convene the Knesset for a special session ten days from now, after the Knesset goes on recess, for voting again on the bill, Maariv-NRG reported.

The government failed to garner enough support for the second reading of the Land Privatization Bill and had to ask Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin to halt the vote and postpone it to a later date. Speaker Rivlin informed the plenum that the government had requested, through its representative, Minister Gidon Saar, that the vote be halted.

Atias filibusters
Rivlin announced that the vote was discontinued, and that it would resume no earlier than a week from today (Wednesday), and no later than three weeks from today, inclusive of days in which the Knesset will already be in recess. 
The debate that preceded the vote gave rise to some parliamentary drama, when it became clear that Labor MKs were absent from the plenum and would not participate in the vote. Without the knowledge of other coalition members, Labor's MKs had arranged for their votes to be cancelled out with those of opponents of the law. This meant that their votes would neither improve or diminish the law's chances of passing.

Before requesting the discontinuation of the vote, the coalition used a filibuster technique to give Prime Ministyer Binyamin Netanyahu time to try and resolve the dispute. Construction and Housing Minister Ariel Atias deliberately stretched out his speech, until Speaker Rivlin announced his displeasure with the matter and cut him short.

'Our prayers were answered'
MK Otniel Schneller (Kadima), an opponent of the law, said that "just as the Nation of Israel safeguards its land, so the land safeguards the Knesset. I am happy that our prayers were answered and the land will not be sold permanently" – a reference to the first words of Leviticus 25:23 ("The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants") which opponents of the bill have adopted as their slogan.

MK Uri Ariel (National Union) said that the the victory over the coalition was achieved through "close cooperation" between him and MK Shelly Yechimovich (Labor) and "with the wonderful help of the youth from the Bnei Akiva and HaShomer HaTzair youth movements."

"This proved that strenuous work for common Zionist goals can cause MKs from different factions and people from various sectors to be swept up. We will continue this cooperation for the strengthening of the State of Israel and its Jewish-Zionist character'" Ariel said.   

Netanyahu 'learned a lesson'
MK Aryeh Eldad (NU) said that he hopes that Netanyahu "will learn a lesson from his failure to sell the lands of the nation and that he will understand that he will not be able to sell the Land of Israel either."

"If he wants to continue to be Prime Minister he had better immediately go back on his plan to destroy outposts, to uproot communities and to create a Palestinian state," Eldad warned.

MKs Uri Orbach and Zevulun Orlev (Jewish Home) also said in their speeches that they would oppose the bill, despite being a part of the coalition. Coalition sources warned the two that this behavior would have dire consequences, and warned that the coalition may rethink its support for the Slomiansky bill.

Comments:

SHmuel says:

Did anyone ever thought that netanyahu by chance voted for "disengagement" until he "changed" at the last moment?
He was, is and will be untrustworthy and dangerous.

C. said:

Wonderful news...

.... He's a real monster belonging to the CFR.

DS says:

In the Zechut of the good work, the prayers of the good Jews... and the SOLAR ECLIPSE: HASHEM IS ON OUR SIDE!

Update:

Land-Reform Compromise Brewing

Reported: 11:20 AM - Jul/24/09

(IsraelNN.com) Vice Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon is developing a compromise that will enable Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to pass his controversial land-reform program while maintaining their principles, according to a Friday report by Maariv/nrg.

Under the compromise, the measure would be approved by the Knesset as is and a ministerial committee headed by the Minister for Strategic Affairs would be formed to deal with portion of the reform dealing with the sale of state lands to private concerns. Tpan style="font-weight:bold;">he goal of the committee would be to come up with terminology along the line of leasing for generations or 99 years instead of outright sale.