BICOM

The Knesset will today open its summer session, with several changes on the government and opposition benches.

Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beitenu has yet to finalise a coalition agreement with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, but barring the formalities will now add an extra five MKs to the government ranks, handing the coalition a six-seat majority. Lieberman is expected to become defence minister and his party colleague Sofa Landver the new Minister for Immigration and Absorption. However, senior party MK Orly Levy-Abuksis resigned from the party last week, over lack of any social agenda within the coalition talks. She will now sit as an independent and remain in opposition.

The main opposition party, Zionist Union, is reeling from last week’s political developments, which saw leader Isaac Herzog sharply criticised by some of his party’s MKs after coalition talks with Netanyahu collapsed. At a faction meeting yesterday, MKs Shelly Yachimovich, Erel Margalit, Micky Rosenthal, Stav Shaffir, Yossi Yonah and Omer Bar-Lev were conspicuously absent. Yachimovich, who is expected to challenge Herzog for the party leadership, told Walla news: “Herzog continues to lash out at his party members in a divisive way.” Meanwhile, Rosenthal said: “I’ve lost faith in the leader of my party and his ability to lead the opposition against Netanyahu.” At the faction meeting, Herzog called his internal critics “anarchists who want to destroy the party”. Herzog, along with Netanyahu, will deliver key speeches at today’s opening session.

Following the resignation of Moshe Ya’alon from the Knesset in the wake of Lieberman’s impending appointment to replace him as defence minister, a new Likud MK will sit for the first time today. Yehuda Glick is next on the Likud’s list of parliamentary candidates. He is a well-known campaigner for Jewish prayer rights on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and survived an assassination attempt in 2014. Glick said that he would respect the ban on MKs entering the Temple Mount for fear of impending violence.