כובש המלפפונים / Wikimedia Commons / CC0
JERUSALEM – President Isaac Herzog addressed the opening session of Israel’s 26th Knesset Tuesday, called on lawmakers to debate with respect and then invited Speaker Amir Ohana to take the parliamentary oath before handing him the chair.
In the official Knesset television broadcast, Ohana pledged loyalty to the State of Israel and faithful fulfillment of his mission in the Knesset. Herzog then transferred management of the session to him.
The ceremony continued with a recital of Psalm 122, after which Ohana began his opening remarks on the new parliament. These were opening-session steps, not the announcement of a coalition agreement or a vote to replace the speaker.
Herzog’s address emphasized how lawmakers speak to one another. He urged them to disagree passionately while considering the effect of debate inside the chamber on public life outside it. He referred to a dialogue initiative established by bereaved families and said the country’s wounds could not heal while one person’s pain became another’s goal.
The president also reminded lawmakers that their words and decisions reach beyond Israel. Decisions made in the chamber directly affect Jewish communities around the world, he said, adding that they look to Israel as their home too.
Turning to the future, Herzog said the full scale of the artificial-intelligence revolution was not yet known. He called for preparation so that every child in Israel could participate equally in that future: Jewish and Arab, secular, religious and Haredi.
His remarks framed AI as a challenge for preparation, education and scientific leadership. They were not a forecast that a particular technology, economic outcome or government policy had been secured.
Herzog closed with prayers for service members, recovery for those wounded in body and mind, and support for bereaved families. The Psalm 122 reading that followed the oath was given by Avi Harush, identified in the broadcast as the father of fallen soldier Rif Harush.
Ohana then spoke about the start of the 26th Knesset and the difficult period experienced by its predecessor. His assumption of the chair in this opening sequence should not be confused with the outcome of any subsequent speaker-selection process.
A subsequent segment of the same official broadcast showed the roll-call pledges under way, with lawmakers taking the oath one by one. The chair addressed MK Itamar Ben-Gvir during an interruption, warned that the next disruption would lead to removal without another warning and then asked the Knesset secretary to continue. The segment does not establish who caused the interruption or why.
The opening follows the session preview published earlier by JBizNews. The broadcast segments reviewed for this report confirm Ohana’s oath, the handover of the chair and the roll-call pledges under way; they do not establish that all 120 members had completed their oaths.
What it means: The new Knesset’s opening ceremony has begun, with Herzog’s address and Ohana taking the oath and chairing the session. Coalition formation, any later speaker vote and the completion of all members’ oaths are separate developments.
JBizNews Desk | Israel & Global Affairs
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