For years, relations have been tense between veteran chairman of the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee David Rotem of Yisrael Beitenu Party, and the Arab Knesset members. Periodically, this charged relationship becomes heated and the arguments become high-pitched. Rotem, resident of the Efrat settlement in the Judea area, believes that the Arab Knesset members are leading double lives: On the one hand, they are citizens of the State of Israel and members of its parliament, while on the other hand they are emissaries of the Palestinians and their positions.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, chairman of his party, has also often expressed this stance in recent years. For Liberman, Rotem is an important vehicle for realizing the party’s ideological agenda via one of the most important committees of the Knesset. This is Rotem’s second consecutive term of office as head of the committee.