A number of first-time MKs delivered their inaugural speeches in the Knesset plenum on Monday and presented the issues they plan to promote in parliament. The remaining first-time lawmakers are scheduled to deliver their maiden speeches today and Wednesday.

MK Yoaz Hendel (Blue and White) said in his speech that “[Exhibiting] exilic customs is shirking responsibility; those who view the police as corrupt, the Shin Bet (General Security Service) as cowards, the courts as though they belong to some landowner in a town in Poland. How can you govern when the message is that only [the person who is strong and strikes back-room deals] can rule? When a politician uses the High Court of Justice as an excuse for the inability to make decisions in Judea and Samaria and other places; when the destruction of antiquities continues on the Temple Mount; when the army is the punching bag of the gap between rhetoric and action."

MK Hendel said one of his missions will be to work towards curbing the “chaos of illegal construction in the Negev and Galilee" and towards “integrating minorities in the rights and duties."

“This is the home my friends in the Likud and Religious Zionism - who share my political outlook – would want, even if now they are getting lost on the way."

MK Ram Ben Barak (Blue and White) said, “Over the past decade we have witnessed the erosion of the foundations of Israeli society as a democratic society, with constant harm being caused to the values of equality, freedom, justice, law, welfare, education and the economy. In light of my worldview and moral compass, I could not stand idly by in the face of racism, messianism, separation, incitement and the damaging of the State's institution's, including the Supreme Court, the IDF, Israel Police, the institution of the State Comptroller, the institution of the Attorney General, and, above all else, [in the face of] the outlook that is manifested in the Nation State Law, according to which a society can exist with first-class citizens and second-class citizens."

MK Ben Barak also said he plans to promote legislation that will assist farmers and agriculture in general, adding that crime in Israel demands thorough treatment.

MK Heba Yazbak (Ra`am – Balad) said in her speech that “there is nothing more infuriating in the world than the sense of discrimination, which we are responding to with a struggle for justice and freedom. Deadly incidents such as the October 2000 events, and the recommendations concerning [those events], did not guarantee non-violent police treatment of Arabs going forward. This treatment of Arab society is reflected in the lack of treatment of the crime and violence, and the bloody results lay before us."

“I have come here from a society that has been disinherited of its resources, lands, sources of living and our natural wealth as Palestinians; a society which a policy of poverty and the blurring and eradication of identity has been forced upon it," she told the plenum.

MK Yazbak said her goal is to continue her political, social and feminist activity in the Knesset, “with a political platform that is based on the values of justice and equality, and on the idea of a country for all its citizens, which is the political flag of Balad."

MK Eli Avidar (Yisrael Beitenu) said his work in the Knesset will be based on the principle of taking responsibility. “We need to take responsibility for the security issue and put an end to the suffering of the residents of the 'Gaza Envelope' [region]. Paradoxically, this will also lessen the suffering of the residents of Gaza. We must take responsibility when it comes to immigrant absorption and diminish racism and hatred of the other. We mustn't raise the young generation on stereotypes related to a heavy accent, different customs or skin color, because this poses a danger to the character of Israeli society as a pluralistic and tolerant society."

In his speech, MK Avidar mentioned the increase in anti-Semitic incidents around the world, saying “the day is not far when a million Jews will look for a place to immigrate to, and I wish we were the preferred option. These [potential] olim (immigrants) will base their decision on three components: livelihood, housing and the young generation."