Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

Knesset sets up three temporary committees as it awaits new government

The Arrangements Committee approved the setting up of the temporary Finance Committee, the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, and the Committee for Arab Affairs.

The Plenary Hall during the swearing-in ceremony of the 24th Knesset in Jerusalem, April 6, 2021. Photo by Alex Kolomoisky/POOL.
The Plenary Hall during the swearing-in ceremony of the 24th Knesset in Jerusalem, April 6, 2021. Photo by Alex Kolomoisky/POOL.

The Knesset’s Arrangements Committee met on Monday and approved the establishment of three temporary committees, Channel 12 reported on Monday.

The committee is responsible for setting up the Israeli parliament’s various committees and determining their composition. The committees approved on Monday are temporary since the next government and opposition have yet to be formed following the March 23 fourth round of Israeli elections.

According to the report, the committee approved the setting up of the temporary Finance Committee, to be headed by Knesset member Moshe Gafni from the United Torah Judaism Party; the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, to be headed by Knesset member Orna Barbivai of the Yesh Atid Party; and the Committee for Arab Affairs, which is headed by Knesset member Mansour Abbas of Ra’am.

The third committee was set up as part of an understanding reached between Likud and the Joint List in exchange for the Arab party’s support for the Likud Party’s proposal for the Knesset Presidency.

That body, which is made up of the Knesset chairperson and his or her deputies, determines the parliament’s agenda.

As part of the Likud-Joint List deal, the Arrangements Committee approved a recommendation to appoint three deputies to Knesset member/caretaker Yariv Lavin after supporting votes were received from Likud, the Yamina Party, the National Religious Party and the Joint List.

The U.S. envoy said the “Politico” profile of an “antisemitic bomb-thrower” ignores how the U.N. rapporteur is “sabotaging the U.N.’s mission of peace.”
U.S. President Donald Trump told Fox News that if the Iranian regime doesn’t strike a deal by Tuesday, he would consider “blowing everything up and taking over the oil.”
“I will stand up anytime, anywhere you need me to call out the antisemitism and all the other horrible instances of hatred espoused toward the people of the Jewish religion,” the New York City mayor said.
“Religious liberty is foundational to our Constitution, and the freedom to practice one’s faith openly and in community is central to the American story,” said Scott Bessent, the U.S. treasury secretary.
Asghar Bakri was responsible for” attacks against Jews and Israelis around the world,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu noted.
The ambassador noted the “unprecedented assistance” to U.S. military and intelligence agencies in carrying out the successful mission in Iran.