New Rule Would Keep Knesset Sessions From Going Past Herzog’s Bedtime

Plenum sessions have challenged him, since Knesset rules preclude his bringing his enormous teddy bear into the chamber as he nurses a glass of warm milk and listens to a favorite story.

Jerusalem, September 25 – A proposed amendment to deliberation rules for legislation and other business in the Knesset plenum seeks to restrict the body’s active hours so that no session continues past 9 pm, when Opposition leader Isaac Herzog goes to bed.

Zionist Union MKs Merav Michaeli and Itzik Shmuli submitted the proposal, which will be debated by the Knesset Committee for procedures and protocol when the legislature resumes its parliamentary work after the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot, toward the end of October. The rule change would mandate that sessions begin no later than midday, and be limited to seven-and-a-half hours, to guarantee that Mr. Herzog would have time to return home and get to sleep at his customary hour.

“Even our ideological opponents in Likud appreciate the democratic benefits of a capable Opposition leader,” asserted Michaeli. “I’m sure certain party-animal Likudniks such as Oren Hazan will object to having to get up early enough to make it by noon after all-night carousing, but as a rule this is an eminently reasonable rule change, and I can only anticipate that petty politics will prove the sole obstacle to its passage.”

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein declined to comment on the proposal, citing ethics rules. “I’m not in a position to offer anything about the bill’s chances,” he said. “What I can point out, however, is that the deliberations on the bill itself will still be subject to the old rules, under which sessions can extend far into the night. I encourage my colleagues in Labor to take that into account in preparing their legislative efforts.”

The rule change would not apply to faction or committee meetings, which are also held in the Knesset compound but operate independently of the plenum. That fact has not proved problematic so far for Herzog, who has been able to schedule his party and faction functions to suit his early bedtime. The plenum sessions, however, have challenged him, especially since Knesset rules preclude his bringing his enormous teddy bear into the chamber as he nurses a glass of warm milk and listens to a favorite story.

In what some observers consider a surprising development, the Haredi partes have said the view the proposal positively, as such a schedule would enable their lawmakers to attend more weddings of family and friends, which family sizes in the Haredi sector guarantee will occur at least eleven times per week.