Knesset

Finance Committee headed by Lieberman’s Stas Misezhnikov approved the cut. Subsidies to kibbutzim and Israeli Arabs are not threatened. Misezhnikov received M.A. in marketing from Tel Aviv University.

Conservatives and communists equally accuse Olmert of fighting the Lebanese war instead of seeking unspecified political solutions. Beilin is afraid Olmert will lead Israel to “another war,” in Gaza.
Though Winograd report condemns Olmert for the IDF’s unsatisfactory preparedness, Olmert was elected shortly before the war and cannot bear responsibility. Ariel Sharon neglected the army and fired the capable commanders who opposed the disengagement from Gaza.

The Knesset adopts in the first reading a bill that requires referendum if the government decides on transferring Israeli land to foreigners. The bill aims to preserve the Golan Heights which Israel has annexed by leftists and Lieberman agree to give away to Syria. The bill could be passed by the Knesset because no Israeli politician wants a bad fame and responsibility for abandoning the Golan Heights.
Given the government control over the Israeli media, public can be brainwashed into supporting giveaway of the Golan Heights to Syria.

Knesset commission for state control was supposed to hear today Lindenstrauss’ report on the home front unpreparedness during the 2006 Lebanon war. Out of 15 MK – members of the commission, a single MK (Orlev, MAFDAL) attended the hearing.
An Arab member of the commission was thankfully absent and won’t deliver secret military information to Hezbollah this time.

In case they didn’t notice, most of the population disrespects them, as well.
Russian mogul Gaydamak derided members of the Knesset State Control Committee for clinging to their jobs while ignoring the country’s interests.

Only 54 MKs voted for a bill that requires supermajority voting on the abandoning of Jerusalem to Arabs. The bill passed in the preliminary reading.
23 MKs voted against the bill which would withhold from the “tax” transfers to Palestinian Authority the costs of coping with Palestinian terrorism, such as shelters and damages. Those 23 criminals remain at large.

According to Israel Radio’s poll, the Knesset elections held today would give Netanyahu 31 seats (he falsely promised in the previous elections to repeal the Oslo Accords but instead gave Arabs Hebron), Olmert – 13 seats (do the voters watch news at all?), Barak – 20 seats (leftists are thrilled by his empty sanctions against Gaza), and Lieberman – 8 seats (can’t wait for his tough talk). Olmert is undoubtedly Israel’s best living politician.

Israeli Knesset discussed the procedure for appointing the head of the Knesset Committee for State Control. The office gives extensive access to security information. MKs, therefore, are trying to devise a procedure that would bar democratically elected Arab MKs from that office.

Knesset adopted a shameful law retroactively refusing Yigal Amir the right of parole. The law bars anyone who killed a prime minister from being released on parole.
Knesset has no problem with Israeli government releasing thousands of terrorists.

Shas Party Knesset Member Benizri refused to resign after being convicted of accepting bribes for influencing government tenders.

The bill, passed in the first reading, requires a prime minister under criminal investigation to resign. Such a law makes leftist attorney general of Israel a kingmaker, able to remove any prime minister at whim.

The majority of Knesset members supported a preliminary bill which, if enacted, would require 2/3 of the Knesset votes to cede the Golan Heights to Syria. One wonders what impotent lawyers are those MKs. Of course, a simple majority can always repeal the bill which requires supermajority vote on ceding the Golans. In other words, though the bill requires 80 Knesset members to vote in favor of relinquishing the Golan Heights, it still takes only 61 MK to repeal this bill before voting on the Golan Heights.

Kadima Party mulls early primaries to be ready for Olmert’ stepping down in case he is indicted. Though 70% of the party members support Tzipi Livni, Olmert props Mofaz. Kadima stands no chances in the Knesset elections with Mofaz at the helm. Olmert beheads his own party so that he remains the only viable candidate for leading the party’s list. If Mofaz wins the Kadima primaries, all Kadima MKs would resist early elections as a predictable loss.

Olmert’s successor-elect Shaul Mofaz boasts he can form a new government with the current Knesset, if he wins Kadima primaries.
On the other hand, changing this Knesset for equally corrupt next isn’t worth the effort.

At least 52 MKs vouched support for the bill to dissolve the Knesset, out of the 61 required. The Labor Party is deliberating. If it joins the drive, Olmert will kick Barak out of the government until the next elections in a few months. Barak, accordingly, will miss his chance of a lifetime to participate in Olmert’s attack on Iran and probably in the invasion of Gaza.

An unknown correspondent offered the MK to experience “a string of orgasms,” probably to change her Jew-hating political rhetoric.
Zehava is so ugly that the complaint could be meant to boost her reputation.

Knesset approved in the first reading a bill which refuses compensation to the Arabs of Judea and Samaria who somewhat suffered during the IDF’s antiterrorist operations there.
Israeli judicial system still lacks clear guidance on whether Jews can sue the Fatah Authority and individual Palestinians for terrorist acts against Jews.
Despite several threats, Israel fails to deduct compensations to Jewish victims of Palestinian terrorism from Israel’s monthly payments to Fatah.

Aryeh Eldad barred from the Knesset for a day after citing the penal code section 97B: “Anyone who intentionally caused any territory to fall under the authority of a foreign country, is liable to death or life imprisonment.”

During a squabble with MK Zeev Elkin, Knesset coalition chief Eli Aflalo shouted at him that the coalition would never vote for Elkin’s bills. It’s beyond comprehension to Aflalo and his likes that bills should be voted on their merits for benefit of the People of Israel.

The new law bars Israeli citizens who visited enemy states (every Muslim state except Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, and Oman) from running for Knesset. The law offers a loophole: the visitors retain their electoral rights if they can prove that they did not provide support to Israel’s enemies.
Shaul Mofaz, Education Minister (Peace Now founder) Yuli Tamir, Haim Ramon, Ami Ayalon opposed the bill in order to raise their own popularity with Israeli Arabs.
The bill, technically an amendment for the Knesset Basic Law, received 52 votes rather than 61 (absolute majority) and stands to be overturned by the Supreme Court.