“One bad apple can spoil a whole barrel,” Rivlin told reporters, "and forty bad apples can do it even quicker” - an exaggerated reference to the many MKs involved in corruption and misdeeds during the current term.
Rivlin scolded voters, saying they should make sure to elect better officials for the next Knesset. MKs in the 16th Knesset were caught double-voting, appointing political allies to professional positions, accepting bribes, violating campaign finance laws, and engaging in fraud and tampering with evidence, among other crimes.
The Knesset speaker stressed that most of the members of the 120-seat parliament had done a great job, specifically mentioning Likud coalition whip MK Gideon Sa’ar by name.
A “report card” issued to the 16th Knesset Wednesday named NRP MKs Shaul Yahalom and Gila Finkelstein as “legislative champions” for successfully passing 14 laws. Finkelstein said that a 15th piece concluded this week had not made it into the statistics. Second place, with 11 laws successfully passed, went to Shinui MK Ehud Ratzabi and third went to UTJ MK Moshe Gafni, with ten.
Virulently anti-Zionist MK Abdul Malik Dahamshe (United Arab List) gave the most speeches in the Knesset this session: 553.
There were a total of 250 no-confidence motions filed during the last session.
Dozens of bills were handled Wednesday, the last day of the session prior to the upcoming elections. The Knesset usually votes on a half-dozen bills a day at most, but dozens of pieces of legislation were brought before the parliament this week in order that they pass their second reading and remain on the books to be discussed in the 17th Knesset. Hundeds of bills that did not pass their second reading will be discarded and must be submitted anew next session.
The Knesset is ending the session early to avoid populist legislation aimed at garnering electoral gains. Laws submitted in recent days included a vote on the obligations of corporations to consult with residents on the construction of cellular antennas; a law submitted by MK Eliezer Cohen (National Union) giving polio victims over 40 a pension of 7,000 shekels a month for the rest of their lives; two bills submitted by Shinui MKs outlining equal employment opportunity guidelines; a project proposed by MK Ran Cohen (Meretz-Yahad) allotting 200 million shekels for an institution for at-risk youth; and a Holocaust reparations bill creating an authority to handle claims with an annual budget of at least 32 million shekels a year.
The 2006 budget has not even been submitted to the Knesset for approval by Finance Minister Ehud Olmert (Kadima). Instead, the government will use the 2005 budget for the first quarter-to-half of 2006, updating it monthly according to the index. The 17th Knesset will work to pass the 2006 budget as soon as possible following the March 28th elections.