From the Liveblog of
Thursday, March 12, 2026
Knesset to increase parliamentary activity, more reinforced rooms to be prepared
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana announces plans to resume more parliamentary activity following nearly two weeks of war with Iran.
In a statement, Ohana’s office says that following an fresh situational assessment with senior Knesset staffers, it has been decided to prepare additional chambers as protected spaces in order to “allow for broader Knesset activity during the next week, in accordance with requests received from both the opposition and the coalition.”
Knesset staff are set to “prepare a plan for holding the discussions in a staggered manner so that at any time it will be possible to evacuate participants to protected spaces at short notice,” the statement adds.
According to Channel 12, the discussions will be allowed to be held without any restrictions on content, including controversial laws, despite the fact that Israel remains at war.
Last Thursday, the Knesset resumed limited legislative activity after suspending nearly all committee meetings and plenum sessions following the outbreak of war with Iran. It was decided at the time that committee meetings would only be held in chambers that serve as protected spaces or adjacent to them, while visits and tours would remain curtailed.
Plenum sessions have been taking part in a fortified auditorium rather than in their usual chamber.
The Times of Israel Community.