The United Torah Judaism faction in the Knesset has named Member of Knesset Yisrael Eichler to be appointed deputy speaker of the Knesset, replacing Shas party MK Yitzhak Vaknin who has resigned the post as part of a coalition agreement.
In turn Rabbi Eichler is due to give up his place on the committee to appoint religious-court judges and be replaced there by a Shas member. The indications are that it will be Yoav Ben Tzur. Going into last night's UTJ meeting, the Degel Hatorah faction wanted the deputy-speaker post to go to MK Yaakov Asher, who has no executive positions in the Knesset, although he chairs the subcommittee for road safety and the lobby for housing solutions in the haredi sector.