Kadima MK Shaul Mofaz was officially appointed Wednesday to head the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Mofaz, who was appointed as temporary chairperson of the committee several weeks ago, will begin convening decision-making sessions in the coming days. Sessions were postponed after the former chairperson of the committee, Kadima MK Tzachi Hanegbi, quit the job after he suspended his Knesset activity in the wake of a corruption scandal.
The appointment thus ends a political tug of war between the Likud and Kadima, both of which preferred to reject chairmanship of what is considered one of the Knesset's two most prestigious committees. According to an agreement between the coalition and Kadima, the Foreign Affairs and Defense committee's chairmanship is supposed to be filled by a Kadima MK, but with the resignation of Hanegbi, Kadima officials told Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that they wanted to “trade” that position for chairmanship of the Knesset Economics Committee – another committee whose chairmanship is in dispute, this time between Likud Mks Ofir Akunis and Carmel Shama. Shama claimed that Netanyahu promised him chairmanship of the committee, while Akunis said he had not been a party to any such arrangement when he was appointed chairman of the Economics Committee.
After weeks of negotiating, Kadima backed down from its demand for the Economics Committee, and agreed to retain chairmanship of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee for the next eight months, after which Kadima said it would want to switch to chairmanship of Economics.
Coalition chairman MK Ze'ev Elkin praised the appointment, saying that “if Mofaz had been appointed three weeks ago when Hanegbi resigned, we would have saved ourselves much stumbling and confusion. But, better late than never.” Speaking to Voice of Israel government radio, Knesset speaker Reuven Rivlin also expressed his satisfaction at the appointment, saying that he could not remember a time when neither of the most important parties in the Knesset wanted to run what, along with the Finance Committee, is considered the Knesset's most important and influential group.
Speaking after the appointment was made official, Mofaz thanked his fellow committee members for having faith in his leadership. “The State of Israel faces complicated security and diplomatic challenges. Both avenues, security and diplomacy, must be pursued equally. I believe that together we can successful overcome these challenges,” Mofaz said.