Today: 15 April 2025
20 May 2022
1 min read

Israel’s governing coalition become minority in Parliament

Israel’s governing coalition became a minority in Knesset or the parliament, after an Israeli-Arab lawmaker announced her resignation…reports Asian Lite News

Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi, an Israeli-Arab with the liberal Meretz party, handed in her resignation letter to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Thursday, leaving his eight-party coalition with only 59 seats in the 120-seat parliament.

In the letter, the lawmaker said she was quitting because Bennett’s government has taken a string of “hawkish and right-wing policies” over the flashpoint holy site of Al-Aqsa mosque compound in East Jerusalem, demolitions of Bedouin homes in the Negev Desert in southern Israel, and other issues relating to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank.

Her departure, less than a year after the inauguration of the new government, threw Bennett’s coalition into disarray and made it more difficult for the embattled Prime Minister to keep his grip on power, Xinhua news agency reported.

The right-wing Likud party, headed by Bennett’s main rival, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, already announced on Wednesday its plans to bring a no-confidence motion to parliament.

ALSO READ: Palestinians call on world community to boycott Israel

If such a motion passes in four rounds of votes, a procedure that might take weeks, the Knesset will be dissolved, sending Israelis to elections for the fifth time in three years.

The ruling coalition has already lost its slim majority on April 6, when Idit Silman, a lawmaker with the Yamina party, quit over a religious dispute, placing the coalition on 60 seats in the parliament.

Bennett’s cross-partisan coalition — formed with Yair Lapid, leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party — is composed of a mixture of pro-settler nationalists, liberals and Islamists, united only with the goal of ousting Netanyahu, who is facing a criminal trial over corruption charges.

Previous Story

‘Unmasking Indian Secularism – Why We Need A New Hindu-Muslim Deal’

Next Story

ACI Asia-Pacific announces new president & 4 new board members

Latest from Arab News

GAZA KILLINGS: War Crime?

Mobile Phone Footage Casts Doubt on Israeli Account of Ambulance Attack in Gaza Newly surfaced mobile phone footage has raised serious questions about the Israeli military’s justification for opening fire on a

GCC condemns Israeli airstrikes in Syria

GCC SG Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi affirmed that these airstrikes represent a continuation of efforts by the Israeli occupation forces to undermine and destabilise regional and international security Secretary General of the Gulf

Pakistan Day celebrated in Oman

On the occasion of Pakistan Day on March 23, a grand ceremony was held at the Embassy of Pakistan in Muscat, Oman.  The ceremony began with the recitation of the Holy Quran
Go toTop

Don't Miss

Yemen’s warring factions agree to consolidate truce during Eid al-Adha: UN

UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg announced that the

Sharjah Ruler receives Culture Minister

They discussed the cultural partnerships between all cultural departments and