Today, Thursday, October 3, 2019, the 22nd Knesset of Israel will be sworn in, bringing an end to the 21st Knesset, which served the shortest term of any Knesset in the nation’s history, having been elected in April 2019.
One of the new Members of Knesset being sworn in is Rabbi Moshe Abutbul, the former Shas-affiliated mayor of Beit Shemesh. Leaving Knesset is Yahadut Hatorah MK Yitzchak Pindrus, who only served in the 21st Knesset. While it was believed that he was going to serve in the 22nd Knesset, Yahadut Hatorah lost its eighth seat to Likud when the last ballots, those from the disputed polling stations were counted. Yahadut Hatorah has signaled it may appeal the loss of the seat to the High Court of Justice, but it is unlikely it will follow through, and if it does, the decision is unlikely to be reversed.
The red carpet is out, and the Knesset opened promptly at 8:00AM, permitting preparations for the festive event to continue. At 3:00PM, the festive ceremony got underway, and the Knesset Guard greeted President Reuven Rivlin with an honor guard with the IDF band playing in the background.
At exactly 4:00PM, the Knesset Secretary officially greeted the president. The trumpets will sound, and then, the president opens the session and Knesset Speaker began the day’s event. The Members of Knesset will then begin taking the oath of office.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
One Response
Abutbol was a partisan Mayor, he’ll be a partisan MK. If he couldn’t run a small city without corruption on behalf of Shas, why should we think he’ll do anything to help anyone not affiliated with Shas?