Likud MK replaces UTJ MK as head of Knesset Ethics Committee after party quits government

By Ariela Karmel

You will receive email alerts from this author. Manage alert preferences on your profile page

You will no longer receive email alerts from this author. Manage alert preferences on your profile page

22 July 2025, 4:39 pm

1 Edit

Ariela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.

Likud MK Eliyahu Revivo leads a Knesset committee meeting in Jerusalem, December 25, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Likud MK Eliyahu Revivo is appointed the new chair of the Knesset Ethics Committee by Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, filling the seat vacated by United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Roth, who chaired the committee before his party left the government last week. MK Shalom Danino, also of Likud, is named as a new member of the committee.

Revivo has drawn public criticism in recent months for a series of confrontational remarks made to relatives of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza. Most recently, in June, during a heated committee meeting, he asked how the families would “fill their time” once the hostages return.

The change comes after UTJ announced it was quitting both the government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition last week as part of an ongoing struggle over the conscription of yeshiva students.

Roth and other UTJ MKs, including Yitzhak Pindrus and Eliyahu Baruchi, were forced to resign from the Knesset under the so-called Norwegian Law, which allows ministers and deputy ministers from large factions to resign from the Knesset, with their seats then filled by other members of their parties.