None of the Knesset committees will be headed by chareidi MKs
the Knesset Arranging Committee decided, leaving both United
Torah Judaism and Shas very disgruntled.
Arab MKs also resented being deprived of Knesset posts. None
of the ten Arab MKs will serve as a committee chairman or
deputy Knesset chairman.
During a tempestuous meeting UTJ and Shas MKs voiced
objections over not being appointed to head a single
committee. MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni said his party is not
properly represented in Knesset posts.
MK Amnon Cohen (Shas) said that with 12 MKs, Shas is the
third largest party in the Knesset yet did not receive a
single committee to chair. MK Gidon Saar (Likud) said he
should direct his claims toward his own party heads for not
seeing to the matter in the framework of the coalition
agreements.
According to the Arranging Committee decision, if UTJ
eventually joins the coalition Rabbi Yaakov Litzman will
become chairman of the Finance Committee; if not the post
will go to Kadima.
A spokesman for the Committee said they had assigned each
party a certain number of seats based on their percentage of
MKs in the Knesset. Parties with more than seven MKs in the
Knesset were automatically granted at least one seat in the
"big four" of the Knesset Committees: the Foreign Affairs and
Defense Committee, the House Committee, the Finance
Committee, and the Law Committee.
