Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin permitted the swearing in of Joint List MKs on Monday, after punishing them for using Tuesday's swearing-in ceremony of the Knesset to make statements attacking Israel.
Four Joint List MKs, starting with Balad head Sami Abou Shehadeh, used their turn to swear allegiance to the state to instead express their commitment to fighting what they termed Israel's racism, occupation and Apartheid.
Levin immediately told them that their swearing in would not count because they did not use the proper wording. Knesset legal adviser Sharon Afek ruled that Levin had legal grounds to deprive the four MKs on financial and parliamentary benefits coming to them as MKs.
While the Joint List MKs later asked Levin to be sworn in again that night, he took his time in approving the request and was accused of unfairly using his post to make his own statement against them.
But sources close to Levin revealed that the alleged police brutality against Joint List MK Ofer Cassif and the positive media coverage he received afterward persuaded him that he could not hold back allowing Cassif and his colleagues to be sworn in on Monday.In addition to the Joint List MKs, United Torah Judaism MK Meir Porush, who was overseas on the day of the original swearing in,swore in alongside fellow UTJ MKs Eliyahu Baruchi and Ya'akov Tessler and Shas MK Yosef Taieb, who all replaced MKs who resigned in accordance with the Norweigian Law.