Sparks Fly in Israel’s Knesset as Party Colleagues Collide

Discussions on assistance for Israeli businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic, held Monday in the Israeli parliament’s Finance Committee, were stalled – and eventually canceled – after two senior Likud party colleagues engaged in a particularly heated clash. Finance Minister Israel Katz and coalition chair MK Micky Zohar accused each other of allowing personal interests to get in the way of their decision-making. They lashed out at each other after several days of reported tensions surrounding the government’s handling of the pandemic. The in-fighting comes on the heels of attacks that two other Likud lawmakers lobbed at Zohar, a loud and highly visible figure in the Knesset, where he is considered Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s right-hand man. The quarreling in the Likud, ordinarily a disciplined and united party, follows weeks of mass protests over the government’s economic policies and Netanyahu’s continuation in office despite being on trial for alleged corruption.