MK's win awards from Israel Democracy Institute

MKs Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz) and Orly Levy- Abecassis (Likud Beytenu) have the most impressive legislative record for the last year, the Israel Democracy Institute announced on Monday.

The IDI plans to award the two with their Outstanding Parliamentarian Award for their “serious efforts to promote issues that are often overlooked, including safeguarding the rights of women, children, residents of the periphery and immigrant rights, as well as environmental reform.”

The criteria for selecting awardees included attendance in committee meetings, completed legislation, submission of parliamentary questions, motions for the agenda and plenary speeches.

In the last Knesset, Levy- Abecassis was chairwoman of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and Horowitz was chairman of the Committee on Foreign Workers, and both were freshman lawmakers.

The award committee, led by former Supreme Court deputy president Theodor Or, found both MKs to have been highly active in proposing legislation and using their roles in the Knesset to oversee the work of government ministries.

“It’s very exciting that my parliamentary efforts are being recognized in such a public way,” Horowitz said.

“The Outstanding Parliamentarian Award is an excellent starting-off point for my second term in the Knesset, which I am sure will be even more successful.”

The Meretz MK also congratulated Levy-Abecassis, saying he values her work and is able to cooperate with her despite their political differences.

Levy-Abecassis said she is very proud to receive the award, and thanked the other MKs who worked with her, including Horowitz.

“There is still a lot of [parliamentary] work ahead,” she added.

The 2012 Outstanding Parliamentarian Award recipients were MKs Dov Henin (Hadash), Uri Maklev (United Torah Judaism) and then-MK Zevulun Orlev (Bayit Yehudi), who was chairman of the Committee on the Rights of the Child before Levy-Abecassis.