The Knesset plenum discussed at noon (Wednesday) the Yesh Atid party's bill, which seeks to prohibit a criminal defendant from forming a government in Israel.
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Opposition leader MK Yair Lapid said: "The bill, which was originally written together with Benny Gantz and Gabi Ashkenazi, was not intended to harass or troll. It was intended to ensure that the Prime Minister of Israel is engaged in the management of the State of Israel.".
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He attacked: "Netanyahu has gone completely crazy. He is managing the crisis terribly. He has failed. The 40-year-old Prime Minister of New Zealand with a small baby at home did a better job than Netanyahu.".
'"We are in the midst of the greatest health and economic crisis in the history of the country, and the Prime Minister's head is somewhere else. He is not with us. The results are accordingly. It is impossible to manage this crisis worse than he managed it.".
Prime Minister Netanyahu surprisingly took to the podium to speak in the Knesset plenary and responded to the bill: "Yair Lapid, a thousand masks will not be able to cover your dictatorship. You and Ayman Odeh cannot defeat us at the ballot box, so with one hand you are encouraging left-wing demonstrations and with the other you are bringing an Iranian law to the Knesset with the aim of disqualifying me from being elected prime minister.".
Netanyahu added: "We are working to protect the security, lives, health and livelihoods of the citizens of Israel. Precisely here in the Knesset, in the Israeli Hall of Democracy, we are witnessing today another disgusting chapter in an unbearable saga. I stand here as the Prime Minister of Israel, by virtue of the people's choice, by virtue of the will of the people. A public enormous in size, unprecedented in size, gave me its trust in the elections.".
The Prime Minister addressed the Knesset members from the left: "You will not be able to stop the truth, over a million citizens voted for the Likud under my leadership. Yair Lapid and Ayman Odeh want to harm the will of the people, as happens in tyrannical regimes. This bill is a complete distortion. Where do they pass laws like this? The only place in the world that passes laws to thwart candidates is in Iran and North Korea.".
Netanyahu continued: "Lapid, your arrogance towards right-wing and Likud voters is unforgivable. Everything about you is fake. You know little about almost nothing. You are constantly pretending. Without a high school diploma and without a bachelor's degree, you tried to get a fake doctorate. Doctor Lapid.
'"You pretend to be a democrat, but you are a dictator with a constitution you wrote for yourself and appointing your own people to the list. You are Dr. Lapid and Mr. Dictatorship. The last person who dared to tell you the truth in your party, Adi Kol, was expelled from the party. A great democrat," Netanyahu attacked.
The opposition leader responded to the prime minister's words: "In 2008, you voted in favor of such a law - if you had listened to your father not to touch the money, you would not have stood trial.".
The Knesset plenum rejected in a preliminary reading the Yesh Atid bill to prohibit the formation of a government by a criminal defendant. 53 Knesset members voted against and 37 in favor.
