A bill that would make it easier to dismiss a Deputy Knesset Speaker due to inappropriate behavior suffered a setback on Tuesday when the Knesset rejected its first reading.
The bill, which has been nicknamed the “Oren Hazan Law” after the controversial Likud MK, failed to pass its first reading despite the fact that it was supported by the coalition and was brought forward by the House Committee which recently approved it.
The law, which was initiated by committee chairman MK David Bitan (Likud), would allow a Deputy Knesset Speaker to be dismissed from his role due to inappropriate behavior by a majority of 70 Knesset members instead of 90, as required under the current law.
It received its nickname in the wake of the antics of Hazan, who holds the title of Deputy Knesset Speaker, since becoming an MK.
Most recently, Hazan got into a verbal altercation with MK Ayelet Nahmias-Verbin (Zionist Union), after he teased her party for, in his opinion, not condemning the left-wing NGO Breaking the Silence.
As the Knesset members dispersed to go home, Hazan reportedly waited for Nahmias-Verbin in the Knesset parking garage, where he continued to needle her, saying, "Ayelet, I used to think you were a human being, but it turns out you're sub-human."
The stunned MK lost her cool and responded by calling Hazan “the Likud party's punishment."
This incident took place just as Hazan was returning to the Knesset from a month-long suspension imposed on him due to a previous incident with MK Karin Elharar (Yesh Atid), in which the freshman MK mocked Elharar over her disability.
While the “Oren Hazan Law” did not pass its first reading, ironically one of the MKs who voted in favor was Hazan himself.
"How can I vote against the law that everyone names after me?” Hazan mockingly said during the discussion.
“Don’t worry, I support MK Bitan’s law,” he continued. “People thought that this law was meant to hurt certain MKs but that is not so. I'm in no hurry and I assume that one day I will be allowed to preside over the meetings of the Knesset.”