Israeli President Reuven Rivlin exhorted members of the newly elected Knesset members “to attend to the needs of the nation, saying ‘the time has come to return to the main players, during the inaugural session of the 120-member parliament in Jerusalem.
After a tumultuous election campaign, the president told the Knesset and assembled dignitaries, “this building is a glass house, not so that the eyes of the nation will look upon you, but for your eyes to look upon the nation.”
The March 17 election, he said, “proved once again that Israeli democracy is strong, kicking and unpredictable.”
The Likud party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won 30 seats in the Knesset, beating out the rival Zionist Union to earn the right to form the next government.
“In Carmiel and Nazareth, Bnei Brak and Tel Aviv, Ariel and Kochav Yair, Nahal Oz, Rahat and Netivot, in Jerusalem and across the country missions of citizens went out to form the Israeli mosaic of the 20th Knesset,” Rivlin said. “Their verdict designs the face of this Knesset and determines the face and future of the state of Israel for the years to come.”
The 120 lawmakers include 39 new MKs and a record 28 female MKs. They pledged their allegiance to the Israeli parliament and its laws in front of their families. Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein was re-elected to his position by 103 MKs.
The number of Arab MKs also increases in the new Knesset to 17, including 13 in the Joint Arab List, and the remainder included in the lists of other parties. The number of orthodox religious MKs has fallen, with the national religious Jewish Home party and ultra-Orthodox parties Shas and United Torah Judaism returning with diminished lists.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s attempts to build a governing coalition with a 61 seat majority continue.
President Rivlin called for coalition talks to be concluded swiftly, saying, “The public infrastructure is suffering from paralysis for several long months, and we must allow it to return to full functionality.”
The Knesset is the heart of the Israeli democracy which is based on the principles of equal social and political rights, freedom, justice and the rule of law.
The name ‘’Knesset’’ was adopted from the Great Assembly (in Hebrew Haknesset Hagedolah) that convened in Jerusalem following the return of the Jews to Eretz Yisrael from the Babylonian exile in the fifth century BCE. The number of Knesset members was alo determined on the basis of of the number of members of the Great Assembly.