Tel Aviv: Knesset, the Israeli parliament, was witness to a scene where a female lawmaker was not allowed to address the house while holding her infant daughter, reported The Times of Israel. Sharren Haskel the lawmaker, expressed displeasure at Deputy Speaker of the Knesset Uriel Buso. Haskel went to the podium wearing a sling that held her daughter.
According to the report, Haskel, a Member of the Knesset and member of the opposition National Unity Party, wanted to present a bill to the plenum. As she approached the podium, Buso told her that as per regulations, only Members of Knesset could stand at the podium. Haskel went on to explain that she had tried to place her daughter in a stroller but the infant cried and hence, she was forced to keep it in the sling.
Buso consulted office of the Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana along with the parliament’s legal advisors. They confirmed to him that only Members of the Knesset were allowed to stand at the podium.
The Times of Israel reported that Buso ‘apologetically’ explained to Haskel that he was bound to follow the rules.
“You cannot prevent a member of the Knesset from presenting a law,” Haskel pushed back, as quoted by The Times of Israel.
“Ultimately, children are part of us. It can’t be helped, there are also mothers who at the end of the day are both workers and mothers and they should be allowed,” she said.
Howwever, Buso insisted. Haskel then offered to stand a bit away from the podium and make her speech. But the legal experts of the parliament disallowed even this.
After the incident, a annoyed Haskel released a statement and expressed her displeasure at Speaker Ohana. She said that it is “sad that the Knesset Speaker, who has two children at home, chooses to prevent a woman with children from going up to the plenary podium”.
Haskel said that there was no rule that said that a Member of the Knesset could not speak carrying her baby and that allowing the member to speak in such a situation was a discretion of the speaker “who made a sad decision today that, truth be told, was humiliating and terrible for me as a mother.”
“I insist on walking with pride and without shame, not to hide or be ashamed of my motherhood, but to prove to women everywhere that it is possible and necessary to normalize mothers everywhere, even in the Israeli Knesset,” she said.
