Knesset Rejects Three No-Confidence Motions as Lapid Slams Netanyahu in Fiery Speech

The Knesset rejected three opposition no-confidence motions on Monday, none of which reached the 61 votes needed to pass. The motions covered the government’s loss of a coalition majority, what the opposition called failures on multiple fronts, and alleged discriminatory planning policy against Arab citizens.

Yesh Atid submitted the first motion, titled, “A coalition that declared no confidence in itself, lost its majority and lost the right to govern.” It drew 23 votes and passed without any recorded against or abstentions. A second motion, filed jointly by Yisrael Beiteinu, Labor, and Blue and White, addressed “the government’s failure on every front” and received 20 votes. The third, submitted by Ra’am and Hadash-Ta’al, concerned “demolition, exclusion and planning strangulation against Arab citizens,” and won 13 votes, also without recorded opposition or abstentions.

Such motions are routine tools for the opposition to express no confidence in the government, but they require at least 61 lawmakers to succeed. The article says this has become a recurring pattern in the Knesset, with coalition lawmakers often not taking part in the votes, making passage impossible.

The report also cites Yair Lapid’s sharp speech in the plenum against Benjamin Netanyahu and the war. Lapid accused Netanyahu of promising “a historic victory” but delivering a crisis with the United States, open Hormuz for Iranians, funding for the Revolutionary Guards, ballistic missiles aimed at Israel, Hezbollah as part of the equation, and Israel waiting “in the hallway like a scolded child.” He listed what he called 13 failures, including mishandling Washington, failing to build support in the U.S. political system, not securing strikes on Iranian energy assets, misreading the importance of the Strait of Hormuz, and failing to keep Israel inside the negotiating room.