Lawmakers to take crack at Bennett in first-ever Knesset Q&A session

Opposition politicians will put Education Minister Naftali Bennett on the hot seat Monday afternoon as the Knesset inaugurates its first question-and-answer session allowing lawmakers to query ministers directly.

The new hour-long session was designed to allow opposition members to grill ministers, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on various matters in an effort to curb the frequency of no-confidence motions, “which in recent years have turned into a near-weekly routine,” according to a Knesset spokesman.

Over the course of the hour, lawmakers will have up to two minutes to pose questions to the prime minister or minister representing the government, and will receive a three-minute reply.

The opposition will get three-quarters of the total number of questions, and will announce two weeks in advance of the session which minister it would like to take a crack at.

The Q&A is to be held 10 times per parliamentary session, with the exception of the shorter summer session, which will have five. The prime minister and each minister will be the government representative at the Q&A no more than once per Knesset session, according to the Knesset regulations.

The hour-long session will be extended by ten minutes for each portfolio the minister holds, such that when it’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s turn, the session will be an hour and forty minutes to account for the Foreign Ministry, Regional Development Ministry, Economy Ministry and Communications Ministry, all of which are held by the premier.

Bennett, whose Jewish Home party has been at the center of coalition intrigues only resolved late Sunday night, was set to be the first minister to represent the government in the new format.

The parliamentary session will be held hours after Jewish Home and the ruling Likud averted a coalition crisis over Bennett’s demands for security cabinet reforms.

Also Monday, incoming defense minister Avigdor Liberman was set to be sworn into office, with the Knesset voting on his appointment and sealing a coalition agreement with his five-seat Yisrael Beytenu party.