MKs Shai Piron and Sharon Gal resign from the Knesset
Yesh Atid MK Piron decided to take on senior position in education; he will be replaced as an MK by Elazar Stern; Yisrael Beytenu MK Gal says he wants to return to his work in journalism.
Former education minister MK Shai Piron (Yesh Atid) and MK Sharon Gal (Yisrael Beytenu) have both resigned from the Knesset on Wednesday.
Piron, who intends to undertake a senior position in education, will be replaced as a member of Knesset by Elazar Stern, who is number 12 on Yesh Atid's party list.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Gal said that: "As someone who has been a journalist with an agenda, I was given the opportunity to try and promote it from within the Knesset as part of Yisrael Beytenu. I was happy for the opportunity and took advantage of it during my term. However, I feel that in my current position, as an MK in the opposition, I could make better use of my talents as a journalist."
Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Lieberman said he "regrets Sharon Gal's decision to retire from the Knesset but I respect the fact Gal is acting according to his conscience and out of intentions to make the best use of his talents, in the way he believes he could be contribute to the State of Israel."
At the beginning of Yesh Atid's faction meeting on Wednesday, Piron promised he was not leaving public service.
"I will focus on education, officiating as a rabbi, and finding a way to bring down the walls and break the barriers. I will be living in Sderot part of the week, where I will help in combining education and culture. I will help in the training of Israel's future teachers."
Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid said both Piron and his replacement Stern were "key figures on our journey to change the country, replace the government and bring a different leadership to Israel, a different kind of vision and hope."
Stern said he was "happy to return to the Knesset as part of Yesh Atid, which in my eyes embodies all that is right in Israeli politics. This is a party that bridges and connects between the different parts of Israeli society, just as I have been doing my entire life."
Piron, 50, was elected to the 19th Knesset on Yesh Atid's list and was appointed education minister. He promoted several educational reforms, but resigned in 2014 along with the other Yesh Atid ministers in protest of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu firing party chairman Lapid.
In the current Knesset, he has been serving as the deputy Knesset speaker, a member of the Knesset's House Committee, the chairman of the Lobby for the Advancement of Youths and the chairman of the Lobby for the Promotion of Youth Movements and Organizations in Israel.
Piron recently went on a Vipassanā retreat in India, where he used meditation and silence to consider his future in the Knesset. He released a book recounting his time in the Education Ministry and detailing his attempts to meet the goals he set himself in order to change the education system.
Stern, 59, is the former head of the IDF's Manpower Directorate, and served in the previous Knesset as part of Tzipi Livni's Hatnua party. In the 2015 elections, following Livni's decision to join forces with the Labor party to form the Zionist Union, Stern decided to leave Hatnua and join Yesh Atid.
Meanwhile, Canadian-born MK Sharren Haskel (Likud) was sworn in to the Knesset on Wednesday, replacing Minister Danny Danon who will be leaving the Knesset after being appointed Israel's Ambassador at the UN.
Haskel was elected in the primaries to the 31st spot on the Likud party list.
"The past few months have once again brought to the fore the rifts in the Israeli society, and the fight for the state's character has turned violent and harsh," Haskel said after her swear-in. "In days like these, the public looks to its representatives here in this House. This is a great responsibility that has been placed on my shoulders."
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