Living in the Knesset: Who is present the longest in the first two months of the winter session?

December 6, 2021   

Two months have passed since the Knesset's winter session began - and it's time to find out: to what extent do elected officials visit the Mishkan? The vaccine for children aged 5-11 is recommended by doctors: a special response for parents 'Knesset Time' data analyzed by the 'Shaqof' website based on data from the Knesset website, breaks down the attendance distribution of the 142 MKs, ministers and deputy ministers. The data - published by Leon Keinan on Channel 13 - reveals that the MK who was present in the Mishkan the longest is Uri Maklev from United Torah Judaism, with a cumulative 505 hours. In second place is Finance Committee Chairman Alex Kushnir from Yisrael Beiteinu - with exactly 500 hours. This figure is not surprising in light of the budget discussions, most of which were conducted in the committee he heads. In third place is MK Idit Silman, the coalition chairwoman from the Yamina party, who was present in the Mishkan for a cumulative 407 hours. In fourth place is MK Nira Shefak of Mish Atid with 407 hours, followed by Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy with 396 hours, and Yinon Azoulay of Shas in sixth place. The government member with the most attendance is Deputy Minister Abir Kara, who is in 17th place with 344 hours of cumulative attendance. The next time a minister appears on the list, he is in 83rd place: Minister Ze'ev Elkin, who, in addition to being Minister of Construction and Housing, is also the minister who liaises between the government and the Knesset. Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu is in 91st place with 173 hours of cumulative attendance. Likud's Dodi Amsalem, who may have made a lot of noise with speeches and intermissions, is only in 96th place. Naftali Bennett finds himself in only 110th place with 120 hours. Justice Minister Gideon Sa'ar, who is not an MK, is in 123rd place with approximately 96 hours of cumulative attendance. Immediately following him is Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, an MK who spends quite a bit of his time on work flights and also on private vacation, with only 89 hours in the Knesset. Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who is not an MK, is in 126th place - and from here to the end of the list you can find ministers and deputy ministers who resigned under Norwegian law. For example, Eli Avidar, a minister without portfolio, did not find too much time to come to the Knesset and is in 139th place with only 39 hours of presence in the Knesset. And who is in last place? Deputy Foreign Minister Idan Roll Mish Atid with only 12 hours in two months of Knesset activity. And what is happening in the party sector? Yisrael Beiteinu is the outstanding faction with an average of 324 hours of presence. The Religious Zionist faction with an average of 303 hours. United Torah Judaism is in third place with 293 hours and RAAM in fourth place with 284 hours. The Yesh Atid faction - in only eighth place out of 13 factions in the cumulative attendance of all MKs in each party with 261 hours in total. The last three places are closed by three factions from the opposition: Shas with an average of 239 hours. The Joint List with 238 hours. In last place - the Likud, the largest faction in the Knesset, with an average of only 159 hours. The most diligent Likud MK is Ofir Katz, who came in 24th place on the attendance list.