The Joint List will not fill the two seats which are its due in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense (FA&D) Committee as the third-largest faction in the 20th Knesset. In addition to these seats, the list is entitled to two seats in the Knesset Finance Committee. MK Ahmed Tibi, who is representing the Joint List on the steering committee responsible for allocating temporary seats on Knesset committees ahead of the forming of a coalition, announced in the first steering committee meeting on Thursday, March 27, that the list will relinquish its FA&D committee seats in return for four seats on the Knesset Finance Committee.

The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting room (Photo: Knesset)

The possibility of the Joint List winning seats in the prestigious FA&D Committee evoked considerable concern during the recent election campaign among Zionist parties which have traditionally been opposed to the inclusion of Arab and Communist MKs in the classified defense briefings presented before members of this committee. Consequently, until now, representatives of the list’s constituent parties have never sat in this committee and have instead received representation in other Knesset committees. From their own perspective, Hadash and the Arab parties have always been and remain ideologically opposed to membership in the FA&D Committee, lest this be perceived as making them complicit with military actions taken against the Palestinians.