The foreign affairs and Defense Committee convened on Monday and voted to approve the recommendation of the House Committee, in accordance with the provisions of article 106(a) of the Knesset Rules of Procedure, to appoint MK Boaz Bismuth (Likud) as committee chair. The motion passed by a majority of nine supporters versus seven opposing votes.
After his appointment was approved, MK Bismuth said, “I am stepping into my post with a sense of awe, during a war that requires national unity. We, both coalition and opposition, must rise to the magnitude of the hour, and take action on behalf of the nation and the land.
“The enemy does not distinguish between Jewish communities. We’re all in the same boat. That is the famous shared fate, even if we argue over the shared destiny. The bond between the ancient tradition and Torah study, with the state and the IDF, its defensive force, is a winning bond, and we must reach a historic solution that will take us forward to a new path.
“On Tisha B’Av we repeated the oath of the Babylonian exiles, which accompanied us through the different Diasporas and vowed that we would not forget our identity—“If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its cunning.” We need patience for the historical processes, but we must not be complacent. We need something more—faith in the eternity of Israel.
“A person’s biography contains details of who he was and how he acted. Those who judge me are the people of Israel, and they will not judge me not for being chair of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee but for how I acted; therefore, I am committed to all the committee’s goals and tasks,” said MK Bismuth.
Earlier on Monday, the House Committee recommended to appoint MK Bismuth as chair of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, by a vote of 10-4.
During the debate, Knesset Legal Advisor Adv. Sagit Afik said, “A committee chair plays a central role in strengthening and maintaining the separation of powers and in bolstering the status of the Knesset, and he wields a significant influence over the measure of independence of the Knesset and its members. The granting of powers to the committee chairs is designed to ensure the quality of the parliamentary procedure in all the committee’s fields of activity, even when this contradicts to a certain degree the coalition needs and the Government’s will.
“In light of this, my position is that the Knesset should refrain as much as possible from replacing a sitting committee chair for political reasons, and should take this step only in highly irregular cases, when it is clear that other solutions to the political problems were considered, and that the political issues behind the replacement are of considerable weight. The Knesset seeks life and wishes for itself strength and status.
“From the approval of the rule of continuity until today, the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chaired by MK Yuli Yoel Edelstein (Likud) has held over 40 debates on the bill. In the course of these debates, the committee heard the Minister of Defense’s position, and held debates that were attended by the Deputy Chief of Staff, the head of the IDF Manpower Directorate and the head of the idf human resources Planning and Management Division, who presented the army’s current needs and the current draft statistics of Haredi society.
“By virtue of his post, a committee chair also accumulates greater expertise than that of the other committee members. Accordingly, replacing a committee chair during the deliberations on a bill, certainly in an advanced stage, is liable to cause real harm to the legislative procedure. […] In order to avoid a flaw in the procedure, the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee will have to conduct in the further stages of legislation in-depth deliberations, in such a manner that ensures that the committee chair, along with the committee members, will hear with an open heart and a willing spirit the current and relevant positions and data, and will delve into the issues for formulating the legislative arrangement,” said Adv. Afik.
MK Edelstein: “From the start of the deliberations on the bill I said that there would not be a fake draft bill here. Many MKs, reservists and journalists reached out to me and asked to see the wording of the bill. I explained that since there was no majority, there was nothing to legislate and therefore nothing to show. I knew that when I made the outline public it would be subject to criticism.
“All along, I fought to [create] a fair draft bill, but the Haredi leadership refused. Changing the identity of the chair of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee will not change a thing. This ouster will only lead to chaos, in light of the fact that the IDF has launched an enforcement campaign. Today’s vote is the last nail in the coffin of the draft bill. I am saying to the public of service personnel, this issue is in my blood, even if there were differences of opinion between us at times. I promise not to forsake you, and to work towards enacting a genuine draft bill, within or outside the committee. I prevented institutionalized draft-dodging with my own hands,” said MK Edelstein.
MK Meirav Cohen (Yesh Atid): “While we have soldiers in regular service and in reserves who are collapsing under the burden, we are moving aside the chair of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. The Rules of Procedure do not address the replacing of a committee chair who has performed his duties without fault. You are creating a very dangerous precedent. The meaning of replacing the chair now is dragging out the entire process anew; what kind of message does that send to the combatants in the field?”
MK Tally Gotliv (Likud): “For over a year I have been saying that the chair of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, who did not allow the committee members to do their job in oversight of the top military leadership, should be replaced. We are after 40 debates that led to nothing. We will enact a bill that will lead to drafting Haredim. MK Bismuth has in-depth understanding of the entire Middle East theater and a profound grasp of security affairs.”
MK Yinon Azoulay (Shas): “I attended at least 38 debates on the draft bill, and after all the debates we asked when the bill would be [ready]. It was promised that this would take a short time, but it didn’t happen. We never asked for an exemption for those who don’t study. On the night of operation rising Lion we sat down and arrived at understandings, and we showed a great deal of flexibility. There were many concessions that were difficult for us. After Operation Rising Lion, we waited with understanding until the night when the matter blew up and the trust between us and MK Edelstein was broken. This is a crisis that we didn’t want to reach.
“I believed in a bill that would be good for everyone, and I believed that a bill would be submitted according to the understandings. We never asked to replace the committee chair, and we did not ask to appoint MK Bismuth as chair rather than someone else. I have no expectation or demand from him to do what I am requesting. I believe that MK Bismuth will take the reins into his hands and present a bill that will be close to what all the sides want,” said MK Azoulay.
MK Ofir Katz (Likud): “Over the past months, MKs voiced their concerns regarding the bill to MK Edelstein. Without the wording of the bill we cannot move forward and enact this important bill. Despite the fact that over two months had passed since the deliberations were concluded, we did not receive clear answers on where things were going. When a committee chair acts in contravention of the parliamentary group’s decisions, the parliamentary group can come forward and say that it is its right to take back the mandate that was given to him. We reached a dead end with MK Edelstein, which caused a severe coalition crisis that brought everything to a standstill. Since we did not receive answers, there was no choice but to pursue this course of action.”
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