Coalition suspends Benny Begin from Knesset committees

The governing coalition suspends veteran Likud lawmaker Benny Begin from the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee a day after he broke ranks and voted against the so-called Regulation Bill on illegal settlement outposts.

Yesterday, the Knesset plenum approved a new draft of a bill to recognize West Bank settlement outposts, a controversial measure castigated by its opponents as an illegal land grab that paves the way for Israel to recognize some 4,000 settler homes built on private Palestinian land.

Begin, who had expressed his opposition to the move in the past, was the only coalition member to oppose the motion.

Coalition head David Bitan (Likud) writes in a letter to Begin that the suspension will be in place for three weeks.