Notably absent from the long list of MKs resigning from the Knesset on Wednesday under the Norwegian Law was Yamina MK Abir (Avraham) Kara. Kara was appointed a deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and as such, was permitted to resign his position as Knesset member and allow the next person down on the Yamina party slate to take his place in the plenum – but he preferred not to do so.
According to a report on Channel 13, Kara informed Prime Minister Naftali Bennett of his intentions on Wednesday. The move was widely seen as surprising, as resigning from the Knesset would have meant that Kara would have been able to avoid potentially conflicting situations in which he was required by party discipline to vote with the largely left-wing government despite his unabashedly right-wing views.
Although there are those who would suggest that Kara made his decision in order to maintain a staunchly right-wing presence in the Knesset, it is just as possible that the move is designed to pressure Bennett into granting him a broader range of authority in his new position in the Prime Minister’s Office in return for tendering his resignation as MK. Approached for a comment, Kara declined to provide one.