Coalition Chairman David Bitan (Likud) on Tuesday afternoon suspended MK Benny Begin from the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice after the latter had voted against the government-sanction Regulation Act which compels Arab claimants against Jews in Judea and Samaria to accept market value for their land.
Begin’s suspension for three weeks for defying coalition discipline was approved by Minister of Jerusalem Affairs and of Environmental Protection Ze’ev Elkin (Likud). “I used to frequently see such moves when I was coalition chairman,” Elking told Army Radio. “It’s well-known that when a coalition MK votes against the government line he knows he’s going to pay a price. This goes for every coalition MK.”
“In this instance Benny chose to vote the way he did and I’m sorry about it. I think he is wrong on the issue, but the coalition chairman’s response was unavoidable.”
MK Tzipi Livni (Zionist Camp) responded to Begin’s suspension saying, “The fact that they’re suspending Benny Begin says everything about today’s Likud. Netanyahu used Begin’s reputation as an honest man for his election, now he steps on this reputation and on the truth with is decision.”
Incidentally, rumor has it that MK Livni is preparing to jump ship from the Zionist Camp to her fifth party, Yesh Atid. Livni’s chances to win a realistic spot in the ZC primaries are not high, according to surveys.
Opposition leader MK Isaac Herzog tore up the proposed law at the Knesset podium, thus following in the footsteps of his exulted grandfather, Israel’s Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Isaac Herzog, in 1939 tore up the British White Book that imposed severe limitations on Jewish immigration to Palestine and on land purchase there by Jews. The MK’s father, UN Envoy Haim Herzog, in 1975 tore up the “Zionism is Racism” assembly resolution.
Their scion tore up a bill seeking to keep Jewish families on their land.