Israel’s 26th Knesset to Open With Oaths, Presidential Ceremony and Planned Protests
All 120 lawmakers are scheduled to take their oaths on Tuesday as the incoming Knesset holds ceremonies attended by President Isaac Herzog, Speaker Amir Ohana and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
By Larissa Bell ·
Israel’s 26th Knesset is scheduled to hold its first session and swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday, November 10, with President Isaac Herzog, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attending. The parliamentary session will begin at 4:00 p.m., following a day of arrivals, photographs and formal ceremonies welcoming the incoming lawmakers.
Members are expected to arrive from 8:00 a.m. and receive flowers for their lapels before taking commemorative photographs with relatives. Official portraits will also be taken for parliamentary publications and attendance displays during their terms. Two robots recently added to the Visitors Center’s guide team, named Mr. Weil and Mrs. Chagall, will help welcome them.
Formal proceedings in the Knesset plaza will start at 3:20 p.m. with lawmakers and guests present. Ohana will greet Herzog, whose arrival will be accompanied by a motorcycle escort and mounted horsemen. A Knesset Guard parade and trumpet fanfares from the IDF Orchestra will honor the president. After the presidential flag is raised, Herzog and Ohana will inspect the honor guard.
Herzog will lay wreaths at the plaza’s memorials to fallen Israeli soldiers and victims of terrorist attacks. He will then accompany Ohana to the entrance hall of the speaker’s office to sign the President’s Book, where presidents leave messages for each incoming parliament. Lawmakers will subsequently take their places in the plenum, with relatives and senior government officials observing from the galleries.
At 4:00 p.m., Secretary-General Dan Marzouk will announce Herzog’s entrance, prompting those present to stand while three trumpet fanfares are played. Herzog will open proceedings with three gavel strikes and deliver an address. He will then invite Ohana to take his oath and assume the chair. Following Ohana’s remarks, Marzouk will call each of the 120 members by name to stand and pledge allegiance.
The ceremony will include a reading of Psalm 122 by Avi Harush, whose son, Sgt. Reef Harush, was killed fighting in the southern Gaza Strip in April 2024. Screens in the plenum will show excerpts from the Declaration of Independence accompanied by the voice of Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion. The Pirchei Ashkelon children’s choir will close the session with the national anthem, Hatikvah.
Party leaders will gather for the customary group photograph in Chagall Hall. Ohana and Netanyahu will address the gathering, and singer Harel Skaat will perform Hineni Kan, meaning Here I Am, and Derech Aruka, meaning A Long Road. Ohana will conclude the event with a blessing over wine and a toast to the incoming Knesset.
New members attended an orientation on Monday covering parliamentary procedures, administrative arrangements and their responsibilities. Sessions introduced the legislative process, tools for government oversight and the work of Knesset departments. Participants were also offered a building tour and photographs for their parliamentary identification cards and website profiles.
Several right-wing groups, including Im Tirtzu, the Mothers’ March and the Reservists Generation of Victory movement, plan to demonstrate outside during the swearing-in. Their announced slogan opposes replacing the speaker with votes from people they describe as Hamas supporters. The Knesset Guard is preparing for the protests while maintaining heightened alert for the ceremony. Authorities have no information indicating plans to prevent lawmakers or others from entering.
