Israel’s 26th Knesset was sworn in on Tuesday 10 November, according to the Times of Israel’s live blog. The chamber has 120 members, 46 of them newcomers. Gadi Eisenkot holds the mandate to form the next government after receiving the backing of 67 lawmakers, the outlet reported.
The opposition-led bloc around Eisenkot also picked its own candidates for key posts, naming Matan Kahana for Knesset speaker and Avigdor Liberman to lead the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee. The incumbent speaker, Amir Ohana, said a vote to choose a speaker will be held next Tuesday after a majority of members asked for one.
The Times of Israel also reported that the bloc submitted three bills on the first day: one to set up a state commission of inquiry into the events of 7 October, one to limit the number of years a prime minister can serve, and one to repeal the judicial overhaul legislation passed in the previous term.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the new Knesset and, according to the live blog, accused the Arab parties Ra’am and the Joint List of seeking Israel’s “destruction”, repeating his call for a national unity government. Eisenkot described the speech as “hate-filled” and said it convinced him further that Netanyahu is unfit for office. The live blog headline also noted that the party Yashar had cancelled scheduled coalition negotiations with Likud.
Reporting note: This report relies on a single outlet’s rolling live blog, and the quotations and political characterisations come from the parties themselves. The vote count behind the mandate and the details of the bills have not been checked against Knesset records.
Photo: Fallaner / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons
