Yoav Kisch
Yoav KischArutz Sheva

MK Yoav Kisch (Likud) has been suspended from his membership in the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and the Finance Committee until further notice, by decision of Coalition Chairman and fellow Likud MK Tzahi Hanegbi.

The reason for the sanction is the fact that Kisch absented himself from last night's vote on the amended Enlistment Law, without permission.

Kisch responded to the punishment by saying that he had anticipated it, and that he accepts it.

"I received the Coalition Chairman's announcement about my suspension from the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and the Finance Committee," he said. "It was completely clear to me that I would pay a price for my behavior. I am at peace with my decision and with the faction's judgment."

Before entering the Knesset for the first time after the last elections, Kisch led the so-called "reservists' protest" against the unequal status of haredi and non-haredi men, with regard to compulsory military service. Members of the movement were calling him a hypocrite before he came out openly against the amended Enlistment Law, which essentially upholds this inequality.

The Knesset plenum ratified the amended Enlistment Law in the second and third readings at night, turning it into the law of the land. The law passed by a majority of 49 to 36, with members of the Arab Joint List absenting themselves at the request of haredi MKs.