Israeli Government Loses Majority as Backbencher Quits

Israel's Prime Minister Naftali Bennett speaks as he visits an army base in the Jewish settlement of Beit El, near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, April 5, 2022. (Reuters)
Israel's Prime Minister Naftali Bennett speaks as he visits an army base in the Jewish settlement of Beit El, near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, April 5, 2022. (Reuters)
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Israeli Government Loses Majority as Backbencher Quits

Israel's Prime Minister Naftali Bennett speaks as he visits an army base in the Jewish settlement of Beit El, near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, April 5, 2022. (Reuters)
Israel's Prime Minister Naftali Bennett speaks as he visits an army base in the Jewish settlement of Beit El, near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, April 5, 2022. (Reuters)

An Israeli lawmaker quit the government's wafer-thin ruling coalition over a religious dispute on Wednesday, throwing the fragile alliance into disarray without a majority in parliament.

Backbencher Idit Silman's departure raises the possibility of new parliamentary elections less than a year after the government took office. While Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s government remains in power, it is now hamstrung in the 120-seat parliament and will likely struggle to function.

Silman, from Bennett’s religious-nationalist Yamina party, had opposed the distribution of leavened bread and foodstuffs in public hospitals — in breach of religious tradition during the Passover holiday, public broadcaster Kan reported.

Bennett's coalition of eight political parties ranging from Islamists to hard-line nationalists and dovish liberals — all united solely in their opposition to former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu — now holds 60 seats in the Knesset, Israel's parliament.

The Knesset is currently in recess, and it remains unclear if the opposition will now have enough support to hold a no-confidence vote and send Israelis to the polls for the fifth time in just over three years.

Silman, said she “cannot lend a hand to harming the Jewish character of the state of Israel and the people of Israel,” and would work to form a right-wing government, Kan reported.

Israel has held four elections in two years in a protracted political crisis over Netanyahu's fitness to rule while on trial for corruption. The deadlocked elections were finally broken in June when Bennett and his allies ousted Netanyahu after 12 years in office by cobbling together a coalition of unlikely allies.

Netanyahu, now opposition leader, congratulated Silman and “welcomed her back home to the nationalist camp.”



Cyprus Looking at ICC Arrest Warrants, Says Its Decisions are Binding

FILE PHOTO: The International Criminal Court building is seen in The Hague, Netherlands, January 16, 2019. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The International Criminal Court building is seen in The Hague, Netherlands, January 16, 2019. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw/File Photo
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Cyprus Looking at ICC Arrest Warrants, Says Its Decisions are Binding

FILE PHOTO: The International Criminal Court building is seen in The Hague, Netherlands, January 16, 2019. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The International Criminal Court building is seen in The Hague, Netherlands, January 16, 2019. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw/File Photo

Cyprus, which has close ties with Israel, considers arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) as binding in principle, a government source told Reuters on Friday.
The ICC on Thursday issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a former Israeli defense minister and a leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas for alleged crimes against humanity, reported Reuters.
"The decision is being studied and we have no comment on that. As a matter of principle, the decisions of the International Criminal Court are both respected, and binding," said the government source, requesting anonymity.