The Knesset term of Salah Tarif, who entered the Knesset two months ago upon the resignation of Labor MK Amram Mitzna, will end today, in light of a Tel Aviv District Court ruling.
The Court ruled that the crimes of which he was convicted are characterized by moral turpitude. He was found guilty in Dec. 2003 of bribery and breach of trust, but later appealed the terming of his crime as one of moral turpitude. In light of today's ruling, Tarif will have to leave the Knesset, thought he said that he will appeal the ruling in the Supreme Court. Tarif, who served as a Cabinet minister in the government of Ehud Barak, was the only Druze minister in Israeli history.
Tarif will be replaced by Ronen Tzur. Tzur was the next in line on the Labor Party's list of 16th Knesset candidates, after two other candidates, Housing Ministry Director-General Shmuel Abuav and Tova Ilan of the left-wing religious-Zionist Meimad movement, turned down the opportunity.
Tzur will be the 7th new Labor Party MK of the outgoing Knesset, following the resignations of MKs Mitzna, Peres, Burg, Itzik, Ramon and Shochat at various points of this term. Sofa Landver, one of the replacements, has already announced that she is joining the Yisrael Beiteinu party, and some other replacements - including former MKs Weizmann Shiri and Avi Yechezkel - will be sworn in this Thursday.
The current Knesset, in fact, holds the record for the largest turnover in Knesset Members, according to a Knesset archivist. In addition to the seven new Labor MKs, two Likud Knesset Members - Tzachi HaNegbi and Omri Sharon - resigned over the past weeks, and were replaced by Penina Rosenblum and David Mena. The top names on the Yisrael Beiteinu and Yisrael B'Aliyah lists, Avigdor Lieberman and Natan Sharansky, resigned three years ago to make room for their respective party colleagues Eliezer Cohen and Marina Solodkin. The late Shinui Party minister Yehudit Naot was replaced by Erela Golan, and a rotation agreement in the United Torah Judaism party saw Shmuel Halpert replace Yisrael Eichler.
The new MKs will not participate in regular Knesset sessions, as the Knesset is in recess until after the elections more than two months from now. They can, however, become members of Knesset committees, some of which will be holding sessions in the coming weeks. In response to a query from Arutz-7, the Knesset Spokesman's Office responded that the new MKs will be receiving full remuneration until April 17, when the 17th Knesset will be sworn in. They are also eligible for all the financial allowances of Knesset Members, such as parliamentary aides, office staff, telephone and mail allowances, newspapers, and the like.
The Court ruled that the crimes of which he was convicted are characterized by moral turpitude. He was found guilty in Dec. 2003 of bribery and breach of trust, but later appealed the terming of his crime as one of moral turpitude. In light of today's ruling, Tarif will have to leave the Knesset, thought he said that he will appeal the ruling in the Supreme Court. Tarif, who served as a Cabinet minister in the government of Ehud Barak, was the only Druze minister in Israeli history.
Tarif will be replaced by Ronen Tzur. Tzur was the next in line on the Labor Party's list of 16th Knesset candidates, after two other candidates, Housing Ministry Director-General Shmuel Abuav and Tova Ilan of the left-wing religious-Zionist Meimad movement, turned down the opportunity.
Tzur will be the 7th new Labor Party MK of the outgoing Knesset, following the resignations of MKs Mitzna, Peres, Burg, Itzik, Ramon and Shochat at various points of this term. Sofa Landver, one of the replacements, has already announced that she is joining the Yisrael Beiteinu party, and some other replacements - including former MKs Weizmann Shiri and Avi Yechezkel - will be sworn in this Thursday.
The current Knesset, in fact, holds the record for the largest turnover in Knesset Members, according to a Knesset archivist. In addition to the seven new Labor MKs, two Likud Knesset Members - Tzachi HaNegbi and Omri Sharon - resigned over the past weeks, and were replaced by Penina Rosenblum and David Mena. The top names on the Yisrael Beiteinu and Yisrael B'Aliyah lists, Avigdor Lieberman and Natan Sharansky, resigned three years ago to make room for their respective party colleagues Eliezer Cohen and Marina Solodkin. The late Shinui Party minister Yehudit Naot was replaced by Erela Golan, and a rotation agreement in the United Torah Judaism party saw Shmuel Halpert replace Yisrael Eichler.
The new MKs will not participate in regular Knesset sessions, as the Knesset is in recess until after the elections more than two months from now. They can, however, become members of Knesset committees, some of which will be holding sessions in the coming weeks. In response to a query from Arutz-7, the Knesset Spokesman's Office responded that the new MKs will be receiving full remuneration until April 17, when the 17th Knesset will be sworn in. They are also eligible for all the financial allowances of Knesset Members, such as parliamentary aides, office staff, telephone and mail allowances, newspapers, and the like.