Religion Magazine

the Only Thing Knesset 22 Did Was...

By Gldmeier @gldmeier
Interestingly, the Times of Israel points out that the 22nd Knesset passed only one piece of legislation in its entire existence. That piece of legislation was the dissolution of the Knesset and going to a new round of elections.
Part of that legislation though was also to increase State funding for the campaigns of the political parties.
According to TOI:
On December 11, 2020, in its final act after the midnight deadline to break the coalition deadlock expired, the 22nd Knesset passed a law setting a new election for March 2. At the same time, by passing the law, Knesset members also voted to give themselves tens of millions of more shekels than in previous campaigns to spend on bombarding the public with new pitches for votes.
The law calling that third election within a year — the only piece of legislation passed by the short-lived parliament — increased state funding for political parties’ campaigns by some NIS 61 million ($18 million), with each party receiving a raise of around 34 percent.
Legislators argued that the repeat national polls had caused smaller parties to accrue considerable debts, and they needed extra funds in order to both pay those debts and fund their new campaigns.
But the boost in funds went to all parties across the board, regardless of debts, with the largest parties — Blue and White and Likud — each gaining over 15 million extra shekels (around $4 million) to take their totals to over 60 million (approximately $17 million) in state funds, according to a recent study by the Israel Democracy Institute’s Dr. Assaf Shapira.

If the increased funding will be found to have given the parties enough money to step up their campaigns and attract enough voters to bring about a definitive resolution and an end to the political stalemate, it will be money well spent.
------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel ------------------------------------------------------

Back to Featured Articles on Logo Paperblog