Controversial Electricity Bill Benefiting Arab Towns Passes Knesset, After Bennett Loses His Cool

A controversial bill that will allow thousands of illegally built homes, mostly in Arab communities, to connect to the electricity grid, passed its final readings in the Knesset on Wednesday morning, but not before such incessant verbal hounding by the opposition that Prime Minister Naftali Bennet lost his cool. Bennett wagged his finger disparagingly at the opposition and told Religious Zionist lawmaker Orit Struck to “Get out of my face” before coalition members convinced him to sit down. Opposition lawmakers were pleased that they were able to get a rise out of Bennett, calling him weak. The legislation passed without an amendment proposed by the opposition that would have also hooked up West Bank outposts to electricity. The final vote on the electricity bill was 61 to 0, after the opposition boycotted the vote over the failure of the amendment.  Three opposition lawmakers from the Arab Joint List abstained. Bennett later tweeted: “Bunch of thugs. I’m not afraid of you, and I won’t let you burn down the country.”