חוק-יסוד: הכנסת (תיקון מס' 42 והוראת שעה)Basic Law: The Knesset (Amendment No. 42 and temporary provision) · automatic translation · suggest a correction

Official summary of the law (Knesset)

Basic Law: The Knesset establishes that a minister or deputy minister may resign from the Knesset for the duration of his term in the executive branch, and may return to the Knesset upon leaving the executive branch. The Prime Minister, as well as his alternate and anyone appointed as acting Prime Minister, may not suspend his Knesset membership. It is established that at any time, only one minister or deputy minister from each list may resign from the Knesset with the possibility of returning, and shall be replaced by the next candidate on the list. The replacing member of Knesset shall have all the rights and duties of a "regular" member of Knesset during his term in the Knesset, and the bill preserves his independence – the minister who resigned from the Knesset may not decide that he is dissatisfied with the performance of the member of Knesset replacing him and return to the Knesset while continuing to serve as a member of the government. The minister who resigned may withdraw his resignation and return to the Knesset only in limited cases – if he ceases to be a minister or deputy minister, or if he is appointed Prime Minister, including as alternate or acting Prime Minister. Finally, a "switching" mechanism is established, whereby two ministers from the same list serving in the executive branch may announce that they are "switching" between themselves as to who will continue to serve as a member of Knesset. In addition, related amendments were made to Basic Law: The Government, clarifying the status of a deputy minister and his connection to the legislative branch: first, it is established that a deputy minister shall declare allegiance by virtue of his new position. Second, it is established that Knesset committees may summon the deputy minister to appear before them, through his minister. It is further established that the resignation or dismissal of a deputy minister shall not take effect immediately, as was previously established in Basic Law: The Government, but shall take effect after 48 hours, similar to the arrangement that applies to ministers. Without the amendment, immediate termination of office would result in the replacement of the member of Knesset, without allowing the deputy minister time to organize or reconsider. The provisions in the Basic Laws dealing with the termination of a minister's or deputy minister's term of office were established as a temporary provision during the term of the Twentieth Knesset, whereas the provisions dealing with the declaration of allegiance and the deputy minister's resignation mechanism were established as permanent provisions.

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What was said in the plenum

The bill, known as the 'Norwegian Law in an Israeli format', allows a minister or deputy minister who is a Knesset member to resign from the Knesset while the next person on their list enters in their place, up to one minister or one deputy minister from each faction, as a temporary provision for the current Knesset only. The debate centered mainly on the question of whether this is a legitimate amendment that eases the ministers' work and strengthens the Knesset, or a personal political arrangement created to provide positions for coalition party activists and harm fundamental constitutional principles, alongside an extensive discussion that also developed around the events of the demolition of homes in Beit El and the attack on the judicial system that took place on the same day.

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An automatic summary of the plenum transcripts: the debate on the bill at every reading it was voted on. Arguments are given as the speakers made them; this is not an assessment. The list of speakers comes from the transcript, without a model. Transcripts of the sittings: 1, 2

Reservations to the second reading

70 reservations were filed: proposed changes to the text the committee brought to the second and third reading.

The reservations are mainly intended to cancel, limit, or change the proposed arrangement (the 'Norwegian Law') allowing ministers and deputy ministers to stop their Knesset membership and resume it under various conditions, and to limit the arrangement's validity in time and the rights of replacements on the list of candidates.

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By faction

• Joint List opposition · 70 reservations · 13 members
• Zionist Union opposition · 69 reservations · 24 members
• Yesh Atid opposition · 69 reservations · 11 members
• Meretz opposition · 69 reservations · 5 members

A joint reservation counts for every faction whose members filed it.

Proposers and reservation numbers are extracted automatically from the committee version, and the count is checked against the numbers printed in it. The descriptions are an automatic summary. Committee version for the second and third reading (PDF)