Eisenkot’s Bloc Names Matan Kahana as Its Candidate for Knesset Speaker

Yashar chairman Gadi Eisenkot and four fellow party leaders agreed on Tuesday, November 10, to nominate Matan Kahana as their candidate for speaker of the 26th Knesset. Their agreement also names candidates to lead three parliamentary committees ahead of the incoming Knesset’s opening session. Kahana, a former minister and incoming Yashar lawmaker, is the bloc’s choice for speaker. Roy Folkman, Yashar’s incoming faction chairman, is its candidate to head the Arrangements Committee. Yisrael Beytenu chairman and former defense minister Avigdor Liberman is the proposed chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Liran Avishar Ben-Horin, an incoming Together lawmaker, is the candidate for Finance Committee chair. Eisenkot reached the agreement with Naftali Bennett, Yair Golan, Liberman and Yair Lapid while holding the mandate to form a government. The five leaders also agreed on special committees, with the details to be released separately. In their joint statement, the bloc leaders said: “The committee compositions will be discussed and formulated through the Arrangements Committee’s deliberations during the week…” Those compositions are due to go before the Knesset plenum on Wednesday, November 11.