Otmza Yehudit, Shas resume spat as Knesset convenes for special recess session

A months-long feud between the coalition parties Otzma Yehudit and Shas flared up on Monday, as Israel's Knesset plenum convened for a rare August session.

The plenum can convene during the Knesset's summer recess following a special process initiated by either the government or by a group of at least 25 Members of Knesset.

Knesset speaker MK Amir Ohana (Likud) set two plenum sessions this week, on Monday and Tuesday, after both the government requested that the Knesset advance a number of bills, and over 25 MKs from the opposition demanded to hold discussions about the security situation.

Otzma Yehudit said in a statement that the Likud had threatened to remove a number of its bills from the agenda if it did not support a bill sponsored by Shas, known in short as the "Rabbis Bill." Otzma Yehudit chairman, national security minister MK Itamar Ben-Gvir, has conditioned his party's support for the Shas bill on him becoming part of the inner decision-making circle regarding the ongoing war.

The bills in question, sponsored by Shas and Otzma Yehudit, were eventually removed from the agenda after Ben-Gvir's demand was rejected.

The Shas bill stipulates that the government can create and fund religious service jobs in municipalities and regional councils, in addition to jobs provided by the municipality itself. Shas has said that the bill's purpose is to increase and improve religious services, but opponents of the bill have argued that its real intention is to enable Shas, which controls the religious affairs ministry, to appoint an unlimited amount of its members to government-paying jobs. The bill is scheduled to pass a vote for its first reading.

Bills were scheduled to face second and third readings

The Otzma Yehudit bills, which the Likud was allegedly threatening to remove from the agenda, were all scheduled to face their second and third readings on Monday and become law. 

The bills included a measure to enable the imprisonment until the end of proceedings of minors under the age of 14 suspected of violent acts of terror, as well as to enable courts to give them active prison sentences; a measure to expand a law that bars sex offenders from approaching the vicinity of their victims, so that it applies to sex offenders under the age of 14; and a bill to enable regional courts to issue administrative detention orders to suspected members of criminal gangs who are deemed dangerous.

Ben-Gvir has constantly conditioned his support for bills on him receiving increased power. His refusal to support the rabbi's bill and demand to join the highest decision-making forum on the war is a saga that has continued for months.