Several parliamentary advisers to Knesset members from the Labor Party on Wednesday evening interrupted the vote on the Reasonableness Standard Bill in the Knesset Constitution Committee and shouted at the chairman of the committee, MK Simcha Rothman.
Members of the Knesset guard who noticed what was going on quickly removed the advisers from the room.
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana responded to the incident and instructed the Knesset Sergeant-at-Arms to keep the advisers who interrupted the discussion away from the Knesset building until the end of the summer session.
In a letter sent by Knesset Sergeant-at-Arms Yuval Chen to MKs Gilad Kariv, Merav Michaeli and Naama Lazimi, the employers of the advisers involved, he stated that the purpose of "the pre-planned riot was to disrupt and even stop the voting" and that "this is a serious incident without any precedent that we cannot led slide."
The Committee of Parliamentary Counselors and Advisors in the Knesset published a statement saying, "We strongly condemn the outburst this evening by a number of advisers against the chairman of the Knesset Constitution Committee. It is not our job to interfere with the work of the Knesset and it is our duty to respect the elected officials even when we do not agree with their opinion."
"During the past two years, advisers from all factions have worked together with great success to raise the advisers’ wages, improve their terms of employment and their status in the Knesset, while maintaining friendship and great respect among all. Unfortunately, a small handful have chosen to bring a bad name to the profession, while the advisers work devotedly to help the Knesset members do their job successfully for the sake of the Israeli public," said the committee's statement.
On the other hand, the chairwoman of the Labor party, MK Merav Michaeli, expressed support for the conduct of the parliamentary advisers in question.
"Proud of the parliamentary advisers of the Labor faction. They spend nights and days in the Knesset and see up close how the coalition destroys Israeli democracy and crumbles their future here and they are tired of being silent. In Rothman's committee they do not have the right to speak - but the right to cry out cannot be taken away from them. These young men and women are the avenue for the future leadership of the State of Israel and they will not let the current coalition of extremists degenerate Israel into the abyss. We all stand behind them," Michaeli wrote on Twitter.