Religion Magazine

The Knesset Games

By Gldmeier @gldmeier
Itamar Ben Gvir and Betzalel Smotritch just pulled some nice shtick. Ben Gvir took his party out of the government coalition (over the hostage deal) but did not really want to give everything up. To remind you, initially Otzma and Hatzionut ran together on a joint list. That meant that when the jobs were given out, some of the MKs came in as a result of the Norwegian Law from alternating parties. They split up after the election but still, MKs from each party served as a result of the other party.
When Ben Gvir pulled his party out, Smotritch decided to punish them by resigning from his ministerial position, thus kicking out MK Kroizer from the Knesset, and then Smotritch would take his position back. Taking back the ministerial position would not put Kroizer back in as MK - the Norwegian Law can only be applied once per MK (per Knesset), and Smotritch would have to resign from the Knesset, which he would not do for Kroizer even if he could.. 
They ended up not playing this game because Ben Gvir wanted to keep his guy in despite not being part of the coalition. He negotiated with Smotritch and they worked out a deal by which Smotritch would not resign, thus leaving Kroizer in. Kroizer would commit to voting with the coalition. On any vote he plans to vote against the coalition he would give 48 hours notice, enabling Smotritch to decide whether or not to resign and kick Kroizer out. And additionally Almog Cohen would be left in place as he was not following Otzma decisions anyway and was voting with the coalition even when Otzma decided not to.
Games. 
Others can play games too. 
It is being reported that Minister Yitzchak Goldknopf (of UTJ) is considering resigning from his ministerial position, go back to the Knesset, then take back his ministerial position while keeping his Knesset seat. This would kick his "Norwegian MK", Yitzchak Pindrus from Degel Hatorah, out of the Knesset but Goldknopf is more concerned with getting himself more power in his fight over the Draft Law and taking back his Knesset seat will give him back his Knesset vote.
To that end, his aide, Motti Bebchik, has been checking within UTJ what the ramifications of such a move would be. Bebchik reportedly checked in With Uri Maklev to see if Goldknopf resigns and does this shtick if Maklev (from Degel) would retaliate and also resign his [deputy] ministerial position to kick out Moshe Roth (from Agudath Israel) from the Knesset being his Norwegian MK. And if they do this, Meir Porush (from Agudath Israel) might also resign to kick out his Norwegian MK Yaakov Asher (from Degel Hatorah).
And Degel has warned that if Goldknopf resigns and pulls this shtick leading to the removal of two Degel MKs, they may vote against approving him as minister when he tries to take back his ministerial position. 
Friction in UTJ...
It remains to be seen if Goldknopf will make his move. Degel also threatened to not re-approve Smotritch (unless he commits to supporting the Draft Law) but that, so far, ended up not being a factor and it is unlikely they would have carried out their threat. I think the threat against Goldknopf is more real than against Smotritch due to their internal politics and friction. 
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