Gov't Suffers Defeat In Knesset As Ultranationalists Fail To Back Bill

The right-wing coalition gov't of PM Benjamin Netanyahu has suffered its first defeat in the Knesset since it came to power in late 2022. The gov't was defeated 21-20 on a bill after MKs from the ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit(OY) party of Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir failed to show up. Following the defeat the gov't removed three more bills due to be voted on. Yair Lapid, leader of the opposition Yesh Atid said "If you want to know how governments disintegrate and coalitions fall, it is this. Exactly this."

• OY claims that its members did not intentionally abscond, but instead that the opposition broke an agreement that all bills for 14 Aug would pass by consent. Some reports claim OY were not permitted by the coalition to miss the vote, but only to do so if the opposition agreed to withdraw, which it did not.
• This comes a day after Ben-Gvir was widely criticisedfor leading hundreds into the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem. This is in contravention of the long-standing Israeli ban on Jewish prayer at the site, known by Jews as the Temple Mount.
• Officials from the two ultraorthodox parties in gov't have called for a "rethink" of the gov't working with OY. For Haredim, visiting the Temple Mount is against Jewish law due to the site's purity. However, the loss of OY from gov't would deny the coalition a majority, risking the collapse of the Netanyahu gov't.
• Amid an extremely tense regional security situation, the stability of the Israeli gov't also remains a notable risk factor.