JERUSALEM, Dec 3 (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition skipped a parliamentary vote on Wednesday endorsing U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to end the two-year war in Gaza.
The vote, proposed by opposition leader Yair Lapid, was largely symbolic as Netanyahu had already publicly backed the plan after Israel agreed to a ceasefire with Hamas in October.
Less than a third of the parliament’s 120 lawmakers participated in it with 39 in favour and none against.
Lapid, a former prime minister, posted on X: “Israel now officially endorses and adopts President Trump’s plan” alongside an image of himself with the president.
The non-binding vote potentially risked embarrassing Netanyahu if some of his coalition partners who have criticised Trump’s plan had voted against it. The plan alludes to Palestinian statehood, which Netanyahu’s government opposes.
A lawmaker from Netanyahu’s Likud party who did not take part in the vote repeatedly interjected during the proceedings. Another member of Likud was also present but did not vote.
Trump received a standing ovation when he addressed the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, in October, days after the ceasefire took effect. Two weeks after the address, a preliminary parliamentary vote passed, with 25 in favour and 24 against calling for the annexation of the occupied West Bank after Trump had said Israel would not annex the territory.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who was visiting Israel at the time, called the vote stupid and said he took it as an insult.
(Reporting by Alexander Cornwell, editing by Ed Osmond)
Comments