Edelstein: New MKs are on paid vacation

Knesset speaker says new MK's shouldn't be sworn in during election recess, can't judge a party's list by its integration of women.

By LAHAV HARKOV
Yuli Edelstein (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Yuli Edelstein
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Knesset regulations must be changed so MKs cannot be sworn in during election recess and be paid for not doing any work, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein said this week.
“It turns out that MKs enter the Knesset for a vacation, and something must be done about it,” the Likud MK told the Knesset Channel on Sunday.
On Monday, Beit Yosef kosher certification director Lior Edri was sworn in as a Shas MK, after Arye Deri resigned from the Knesset last week.
In his inaugural speech, Edri said he is sure “Deri did not resign from his great destiny to continue the revolution at full power. My friends and I expect him to lead the party in the election like only he knows how and is able to do.”
Last week, MKs Yuval Zellner (Kadima) and Ghaleb Majadle (Labor) became MKs after Yisrael Hasson and Binyamin Ben-Eliezer resigned from the Knesset.
Edelstein also responded to accusations that it is wrong for the Likud to have only two women in realistic spots on its list.
Of Deputy Transportation Minister Tzipi Hotovely, who is in the 26th spot pending a ruling by the Likud court, Edelstein said he does not understand why people are eulogizing her political career.
“If we get less than 26 seats, there will be another election in two years anyway,” he predicted.