Knesset committee chairmen to be officially named next week

Coalition chairman Tzachi Hanegbi, who will head the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said the chairmen of the committees would be named next Monday.

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
AN EMPTY KNESSET (photo credit: REUTERS)
AN EMPTY KNESSET
(photo credit: REUTERS)
The completion of the formation of the government with the appointment of new Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan on Monday enabled the Likud to start dealing with who will head the Knesset’s committees and allow them to start functioning.
Coalition chairman Tzachi Hanegbi, who will head the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said the chairmen of the committees would be named next Monday.
Battles will be held in the Zionist Union over the Knesset Economics Committee, though it is possible that MKs Eitan Cabel and Shelly Yacimovich will compromise and rotate as head of the committee.
The Zionist Union is fighting with Yesh Atid over the chairmanship of the Knesset State Control Committee, which Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid wants run by MK Karin Elharar.
There will also be a fight within the Likud over the chairmanship of the Knesset House Committee, Interior and Environment Committee and Immigrant Absorption Committee.
MKs Yoav Kisch and David Amsalem want to head the House Committee, MKs David Bitan and Miki Zohar are fighting over the Interior and Environment Committee, and Ethiopian-born Avraham Naguise is pushing for the Immigrant Absorption Committee.
MK Avi Dichter wanted to head the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee but it was given to Hanegbi to compensate him for not being appointed a minister.
Yisrael Beytenu sent a letter to Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein on Monday asking him to expedite the appointment of committee heads.
“The Foreign Affairs Committee not functioning at such a critical time is a big failure of the government,” Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman complained on Monday. “It is up to the Knesset speaker to fix this problem.”