Israel's 26th Knesset Opens as Opposition Gathers Signatures to Replace Speaker Ohana
Israel's 26th Knesset held its inaugural plenary session in Jerusalem on the afternoon of Nov. 10, with 120 newly elected members sworn in under President Isaac Herzog. The opposition bloc backing prime minister-designate Gadi Eisenkot agreed the same day to push for a new speaker before a government is formed, seeking to replace incumbent Speaker Amir Ohana with Matan Kahana of the Yashar party.
Ohana is a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party. Yashar said it had collected signatures from more than 61 members and formally asked Ohana to hold a vote for speaker; Israeli public broadcasting reported that 67 members, including 19 from Arab parties, would back Kahana. Ohana said last week that if he received a formal request signed by at least 61 members, he would respect the members' wishes and schedule the debate within a week. The speakership controls the Knesset's agenda, the scheduling of votes and the formation of provisional committees, making it the first power contest of the new parliament.
The opposition parties also agreed the same day on a distribution of committee chairs, including the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee for Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman. The bloc is also preparing to push for an independent state commission of inquiry into the Oct. 7, 2023 attack, which Eisenkot has pledged to bring before the Knesset as a bill.
Yaakov Asher, chairman of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, said his party would not support replacing the speaker before a new government is formed, arguing the speaker election should proceed together with the government-formation process. Eisenkot formally received the mandate to form a government on Nov. 8 and has 28 days, with a possible presidential extension of up to 14 more. The speaker fight will be the first practical test of his prospective majority.
(Source: The Knesset)
Source: The Knesset
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于 Jerusalem 的以色列议会大楼。照片：Gary Todd，CC0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Knesset building in Jerusalem. Photo by Gary Todd, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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