MKs to take Knesset prep course at IDC

The four-part course teaches new MKs about the relationship between the Knesset and the cabinet, the press, regulatory bodies and more.

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
The Knesset (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
The Knesset
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
The Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya’s Institute for Policy and Strategy invited the 40 first-time MKs elected on Tuesday to a preparatory course.
The lawmakers are to be sworn in at a festive Knesset session on March 31.
They are then expected to take a long vacation for the Passover, Remembrance Day and Independence Day holidays.
The four-part course, which is to start immediately after Passover, teaches about the relationship between the Knesset and the cabinet, the press, regulatory bodies, legal institutions and nongovernmental organizations.
Experts who are to address the MKs include IDC professors Amnon Rubinstein (who held four cabinet posts between 1984 and 1996) and Uriel Reichman (a former MK), former cabinet secretary Zvi Hauser, Finance Ministry official Amir Levy and the legal adviser of the Prime Minister’s Office, attorney Shlomit Barnea-Pargo.
“The goal of the course is to complement and complete the preparations the new MKs receive from the Knesset,” said IDC Prof. Alex Mintz, the course’s instructor.
Some 30 new MKs participated in IDC’s last training course two years ago. Many of those legislators have already been voted out.
Ahead of the swearing-in ceremony, MKs who are citizens of other countries will have to renounce their citizenship. Incoming Kulanu MK Rachel Azaria paid a hefty fee to renounce her American citizenship last week. US-born Michael Oren already renounced his citizenship before he became ambassador to the US.