Conversion therapy vote marks beginning of end for Israel's unity government
The vote to ban conversion therapy in Israel has exposed the depth of the crisis between the Likud and Blue and White.
The coalition partners running the Israeli government have been trying to conceal the vanishing trust between them. But the July 22 vote over a bill banning conversion therapy exposed the depth of the crisis. Though a new round of elections in the heat of the coronavirus crisis seemed improbable until recently, another vote seems almost inevitable now.
The best and fastest way for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make new elections happen would be insisting on a one-year budget, which his coalition partner Defense Minister Benny Gantz opposes. The last possible date to approve the state budget is Aug. 25. According to Israeli law, a vote on the budget equals a confidence vote in the government. If the budget fails to be approved, the Knesset is dissolved automatically and new elections will take place in November. That fate looked likely as of yesterday, and the blame game is already in motion.
If new elections do materialize, the conversion therapy vote would go down in Israel’s political history as the catalyst. It will be seen at the event that accelerated the collapse of the coronavirus government after barely three months in office.
The depth of the crisis between the Likud and Blue and White parties unfolded yesterday in front of the cameras, minutes after the Knesset passed the preliminary reading of the law. From the podium Minister David Amsalem, whose responsibilities include Knesset liaison, accused Blue and White of being political grifters.
