Ministers resign from Knesset to make way for new MKs

A series of newly sworn-in ministers are resigning their positions in the Knesset under the Norwegian law, allowing new MKs to take their place.

The Norwegian law allows any MK who is appointed to a cabinet post to resign temporarily from the Knesset, thereby permitting the next candidate on the party’s list to enter parliament in his or her stead.

So far, 13 ministers have reportedly resigned their Knesset seats or say they intend to: Avigdor Liberman, Oded Forer and Hamad Amar of Yisrael Beytenu; Pnina Tamano, Chili Tropper and Orit Farkash-Hacohen of Blue and White, Orna Barbivai and Yoel Razvozov of Yesh Atid, Ze’ev Elkin and Yoaz Hendel of New Hope, Tamar Zandberg and Issawi Frej of Meretz and Matan Kahana of Yamina.

The new Yisrael Beytenu MKs will be Yossi Shein, Limor Magen Telem and Elina Bardach-Yalov. The new MKs from Blue and White are Mufid Mari’e, former MK Ruth Wasserman Lande and Alon Tal. Yamina’s newest MK is Shirley Pinto, the first deaf member of Knesset. Meretz will now get former MK Michal Rozin back as well as Gaby Lasky. New Hope will be joined by Eilat Mayor Meir Yitzhak Halevi and former MK Zvi Hauser. In Yesh Atid, the newest MKs are Tania Mazarsky and Yasmin Sax Fridman.