The Knesset plenum on Monday night approved in a second and third reading a new law requiring appropriate representation of Haredim and Olim in the public sector, submitted by UTJ MKs Moshe Gafni and Uri Maklev. The mandated representation includes civil service positions and spots on the boards of government-owned companies.
The introduction notes to the bill note that proper representation legislation in recent years has used affirmative action to boost public sectors whose presence in the civil service does not represent their share of the population – such as women, Arabs, Druze, Circassians, and people with disabilities. The Haredi sector has been absent from this effort, Gafni and Maklev argued, despite the fact that the government has established its inclusion as a national goal.
The bill was passed with 35 for, no objections and two abstaining.