Seven new Knesset members sworn in

Seven new Knesset members, who entered the legislature through the new Expanded Norwegian Law which passed into law last week, were sworn in on Monday.

According to the law, if ministers or deputy ministers who quit the Knesset leave their posts, they would automatically return to the Knesset instead of their replacements.

The new MKs sworn in were Yorai Lahav Hertzanu (Yesh Atid-Telem), Michal Cotler-Wunsh (Blue and White), Einav Kabla (Blue and White), Tehila Friedman (Blue and White), Hila Vazan (Blue and White), Uriel Busso (Shas) and

Yitzhak Pindrus (United Torah Judaism).

Construction Minister Ya’acov Litzman and Deputy Transportation Minister Uri Maklev of UTJ resigned from the Knesset on Monday. They will be replaced when the resignations take effect on Wednesday by the next candidates on the UTJ list, Rabbi Eliyahu Hasid and Petah Tikva city councilman Eliyahu Baruchi.

The new MKs voted on their first no-confidence proposals on Monday. A proposal by Yesh Atid-Telem on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s role in the Submarines Affair fell by a vote of 36 in favor and 62 against. A proposal by the Joint List on annexation fell by a vote of 24 in favor and 64 against.

Former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon (Yesh Atid-Telem) told the plenum that based on information that he gave police, Netanyahu should have been forced to quit long ago.

“I can tell you with confidence after serving the state for 52 years that the Submarines Affair is the most severe defense corruption scandal in the history of the state,” Ya’alon said.

The government’s ministerial liaison to the Knesset David Amsalem responded by accusing Ya’alon of chutzpah.

“The prime minister has faced more than 20 probes that have cost the public hundreds of millions of shekels,” Amsalem said. “There has never been a bigger blood libel than the Submarines Affair. Netanyahu was never even a suspect.”