Knesset Approves New Committee With 63-50 Vote Amidst Political Shift

The Knesset plenum approved the establishment and composition of the Arrangements Committee on Wednesday, following a proposal by Member of Knesset Roee Folkman of the New Hope party. The vote passed with 63 members in favor and 50 against. According to law, the committee will be headed by a Knesset member from the party of the individual tasked by the President with forming the government. The committee's factional representation is based on proportional size, ensuring at least one representative for factions with four or more members.

Representatives from the 26th Knesset factions met on November 9 but failed to agree on the committee's proportional key. Consequently, two proposals were presented to the plenum: one by MK Roee Folkman and another by MK Ofir Katz of the Likud party. The Likud party criticized the vote, noting that parties associated with Yisrael Beytenu, New Hope, and Yamina voted with Tibi and Abbas, urging unity and condemning cooperation with "supporters of terrorism."

Folkman's proposal, which was approved, established a 22-member committee with a key of one member per five Knesset members. The approved composition includes 5 Likud members, 4 New Hope members, 2 members each from the Joint List, The Democrats, and Ra'am, and one member each from Yisrael Beytenu, Otzma Yehudit, United Torah Judaism, Shas, and Religious Zionism.

MK Folkman, who will chair the committee, stated his preference for pragmatic politics and adherence to norms and laws, expressing a willingness for agreement. MK Katz's defeated proposal would have created an 18-member committee with a key of one member per seven Knesset members. Katz argued his faction proposed a 1:4 ratio, which would have given his bloc 15 seats, the other bloc 12, and Arab factions 4. He claimed a compromise of 8 seats for his bloc, 7 for the other, and 3 for Arab factions was rejected because the other side sought to conceal cooperation with "terrorist supporters."

The Arrangements Committee is responsible for approving the composition of the Knesset's permanent committees. Until then, it can establish temporary committees for finance and foreign affairs and defense, and holds the Knesset Committee's powers regarding house rules and Knesset debates. It can also appoint temporary deputy Knesset speakers. The session was managed by outgoing Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, who is expected to be replaced by MK Matan Kahana of New Hope next week, with the vote for the new Speaker scheduled for the following Tuesday.