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Barak: Although We Oppose, We May or May Not Support the Referendum
The Knesset will vote this afternoon on the bill for a referendum on withdrawal from the Golan Heights. The Labor faction prefers to oppose it, but the Labor chairman Ehud Barak announced that following Meretz’s intention to make the vote a no-confidence measure against the government, this will force Labor to support the government.
Barak said this afternoon that he opposed the bill, because “it imposes unnecessary constraints on the Prime Minister when negotiating with Syria, and creates a wrong impression in the world that Israel is a peace refuser."
In addition, the Labor chairman said that “a referendum is a complicated legislative matter which somewhat contradicts the structure of the parliamentary regime."
However, Barak's opposition to the referendum bill could have negative political consequences. On the one hand, members of the Labor party can oppose the bill, despite that the government approved it and the decision is binding on all members of the coalition. But, on the other hand, the Meretz faction announced, as noted, that it intends to make the proposal into a no-confidence vote against the government. In this case, Labor ministers and MKs would have to support the law and the government.
This morning MK Yariv Levin (Likud) said that the Prime Minister must require the Labor Party to support the bill, arguing that Labor is being a hypocrite. "A month ago, they demanded that government ministers vote against the law following the appeal filed by Minister Dan Meridor. Now, when the government decides to support the law, the Labor members must support the proposal," said Levin.