Vegan incoming MK asks Knesset for non-leather chair
Ahead of Tuesday’s swearing-in ceremony, rookie legislator and former TV anchor Miki Haimovich suggests all 120 seats should be changed
Newly elected legislator Miki Haimovich of the Blue and White Party, a vegan, has asked the Knesset to change the upholstery on her designated seat in the parliament because she won’t sit on the leather-covered chairs there.
She also suggested that all the seats in the plenum be changed.
In a letter to Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein requesting the change to her seat, Haimovich articulated her moral objections to the meat industry, and noted: The thought of sitting all the hours I would be in the Knesset plenum on such a chair is insufferable.”
If a budget couldn’t be found for reupholstering her seat, Haimovich said she would fund the switch herself.
Haimovich asked that the fabric change take place by the end of the upcoming summer recess.
“In the future it might be worthy in principle to consider switching all the seats in the Knesset plenum to those that are not made from the skin of animals,” Haimovich added.
“This way, the Knesset would set an example (as it has been pioneering in many other ways, for example installing solar panels on the roof of the building) of preventing the exploitation and suffering of animals.”
Haimovich reiterated her request on Monday, when Knesset newcomers were given an introductory tour of the parliament and a guide to its workings ahead of Tuesday’s swearing-in ceremony.
A Knesset source noted that a similar request was made in the previous Knesset by MKs Yael Cohen Paran (Zionist Union) and Sharren Haskel (Likud), and was rejected.
