At the last minute, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein called for a halt to the vote on the "Tourism Islands" law • In opposition rage: "Political struggles hurt citizens"
Health Minister Yuli Edelstein in the Knesset plenum, tonight
Photography:
Danny Shem Tov, Spokeswoman for the Knesset
Health Minister Yuli Edelstein this evening (Monday), at the last minute and in the midst of a vote in the Knesset plenum, approved the bill declaring Eilat and the Dead Sea area as "tourist islands".
This, after failing to persuade Knesset members to support a reservation that would prevent recognition of additional councils as such "islands".
The meaning of the move is that the hotels in Eilat and the Dead Sea will not open.
After the reservation submitted by the minister was rejected by a majority of 49 to 46, the government withdrew the bill.
Before the vote, Edelstein said that "one can leave here with a message or one can take Eilat hostage to completely different needs, which do not belong to anything, and insist here in the plenum on a wording different from the government wording."
The government bill applies only to Eilat and the Ein Bokek area in the Dead Sea, but the wording approved by the Constitution Committee, contrary to the government's position, sought to give the government the option of declaring other areas as special tourist areas, if they meet the criteria set out in the proposal.
In light of this, Edelstein has submitted reservations to the law, which seek to delete from the proposal the possibility of including other areas, in addition to the city of Eilat and the Ein Bokek area.
As stated, the reservation was rejected, so Minister Edelstein decided to withdraw the proposal.
MK Yaakov Asher (Torah Judaism), chairman of the Constitution Committee who presented the law, said that "following the committee's discussions, a number of important balances were added to the outline. In order to maintain the principle of equality, the committee demanded that the law explicitly establish criteria." "On its side, and that any area that meets the same criteria could, if the government decides, be declared a special tourist area, in addition to the city of Eilat and the Ein Bokek area."