BICOM

Almost half of Israel’s incoming parliament, the nineteenth Knesset will be comprised of new or returning members and will also include a record number of women and religious representatives.

In total, 47 members will be entering parliament for the first time, while six have been re-elected after previous spells in the Knesset. The new members include the entirety of Yesh Atid’s nineteen members of parliament. In addition to party leader Yair Lapid, former Shin Bet director Yaakov Peri, local mayors Yael German and Meir Cohen, two ordained rabbis Shai Piron and American-born Dov Lipman will make their Knesset debuts, while Pnina Tamano-Shata will become the first female Ethiopian-Israeli parliamentarian.

Nine of the Labour Party’s fifteen Knesset members are also new to the role, including social protest leaders Stav Shafir and Itzik Shmuli, plus journalists Merav Michaeli and Miki Rosenthal. Nine of Jewish Home’s eleven representatives are also new MKs, including party leader Naftali Bennett and deputy mayor of Beer Sheva, Avi Wortzman. Hatnuah includes experienced returning members of Knesset, such as party leader and former foreign-minister Tzipi Livni and former Labour Party leader Amram Mitzna. Meretz, United Torah Judaism, Taal and Balad also bring new representatives to parliament.

The incoming Knesset will include a record 26 women, five more than the previous highest figure. Likud, Labour, Jewish Home, Meretz and Yesh Atid guarantee a certain amount of female representation through party quotas or similar arrangements, while the ultra-Orthodox parties do not include female candidates. Meanwhile, almost one third of members of the incoming Knesset will be either modern-Orthodox or ultra-Orthodox Jews, including 11 from Shas, 10 from Jewish Home, seven from United Torah Judaism, six from Likud-Beitenu, three from Yesh Atid and one in Hatnuah.