End of the Netanyahu Era, New Israeli Lawmakers Take Oath

The 120 newly elected members of the 26th Israeli Knesset have been sworn into office. They took their oaths sequentially during an official session held in Jerusalem on Tuesday (November 10), marking the official commencement of the new parliament’s activities. Following the swearing-in ceremony, the Secretary of the Knesset congratulated the members of the new parliament and wished the 26th parliament success. The attending lawmakers welcomed the beginning of the new parliament with applause.

The swearing-in ceremony drew special attention to the four newly elected members who took their oaths last. The personal lives of three of them are deeply intertwined with the memories and losses of the October 7, 2003 Hamas attacks. One of them is Shira Shapiro from the centrist Yesh Atid party, whose son, Aner Shapiro, was killed in the October 7 attacks. Another is Sharon Sharabi from the Yisrael Beiteinu party; on that day, his two brothers, Yossi and Yossi (Eli and Yossi) Sharabi, were abducted from Kibbutz Beeri and taken to Gaza, where Yossi lost his life in captivity.

Another new member sworn in at the same ceremony is Noam Tibon, a politician from the Yesh Atid party and a former General of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). During the October 7 attacks, he rushed to the Nahal Oz area himself and subsequently rescued his son and his family from there.

Meanwhile, the fourth member to take the oath in the final stage is Erez Tadmor, a politician from the right-wing Likud party and the founder of the right-wing Israeli political and social movement “Im Tirtzu.” The memories of the October 7 attacks and their aftermath prominently surfaced during the new parliament’s swearing-in ceremony. The personal experiences of the four newly elected members have also brought to the forefront the long-term impact of those attacks on Israeli politics.

Source: Reuters, The Times of Israel