The Knesset plenum approved in first reading the special powers bill to deal with the coronavirus.
According to the law, the government will be entitled to impose restrictions on demonstrations and prayers during a period of declaring a special state of emergency.
After a unanimous vote, 36 Knesset members supported the proposal, with 32 opposed.
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The proposal was forwarded to the Constitution Committee, to prepare it for second and third readings.
MK Yaakov Litzman, who opposed along with MK Eliyahu Hasid, said in a plenary debate: "As you know, I resigned from the government as a sign of protest, because in my opinion, the projector was working on us the whole time, when I demanded a lockdown when there were 2,000 infected people, and I told him that he was plotting to close the synagogues on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. No one believed me at the time.".
""Someone needs to take stock of what happened from the time there were 2,000 infections per day until we reached 7,000. We should have done the quarantine a long time ago. Did someone take stock of how many people couldn't go to synagogue on Yom Kippur? How many people will this cause not to fast? Because of all of this, I will vote against this proposal.".
Degel HaTorah held a discussion and ultimately decided to abstain from voting. According to the faction's intention, changes to the law will be made during the discussion in the Constitution Committee.
Some Blue and White Knesset members also voted against the law.
