Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Knesset’s Ethics Committee Introduces Forfeit For Cursing in the Plenum

Just a few days ago, we reported on the mischievous behavior of some Knesset members, spraying air freshener around the chamber while claiming that former Labor Chairman Ehud Barak’s creation of a new party “stinks.” And they aren’t the only lawmakers whose conduct has been raising eyebrows. Back in October Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon decided that he needs to start running manners courses for lawmakers to avoid blundering behavior abroad. Now, as Ayalon’s carrot method for improving standards gets off the ground, the Knesset’s Ethics Committee is going for more of a stick approach.

It plans to institute a fine for lawmakers who curse or speak rudely to a colleague in the plenum – a month’s salary, which comes out at almost $10,000. It still requires final approval by the committee, and one wonders if it will pass – after all, forcing lawmakers to think before they open their mouths would seem to spell the end of a longstanding element of the Knesset’s culture.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:

  • Credit the Forward
  • Retain our pixel
  • Preserve our canonical link in Google search
  • Add a noindex tag in Google search

See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.