Norwegian Law Clears 1,600 Hurdles in Committee

The Norwegian Law, one of the signature legislative pieces of the new Israeli government, cleared a series of hurdles on Sunday as the Knesset Constitution Law and Justice Committee dismissed parliamentary objections — 1,600 of them — to allow for the second and final readings in the plenum.

The bill would enable government ministers to give up their positions as Knesset members in order to make room for a different member of their party to take their seat.

The opposition has fought the measure as a function of the bloated cabinet — a record 33 ministers — which would otherwise leave Likud and the Blue and White parties lacking manpower in the Knesset.

Yamina, a former member of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu‏‏’s bloc and now in the opposition, initially filed 6,000 objections but withdrew most of them on Sunday.

A few hundred remain, to be disposed of later this week.