First-time Knesset members Desta Yevarken (Blue and White), Omer Yankelevitch (Blue and White) and Yaakov Tesler (United Torah Judaism) delivered their inaugural speeches in the Knesset plenum on Wednesday and presented the issues they plan to advance in parliament.

MK Yevarken called to establish a state commission of inquiry to examine the absorption difficulties of Ethiopian Jews through the years, and noted that thousands are still waiting to make Aliyah, “but the gates of Israel are closed to them."

“I never thought there were white Jews until I made Aliyah to the Land of Israel," he said. “Today, I am convinced there are white Jews; you are sitting in front of me today. There is no reason why you, my brothers, cannot accept black Jews."

“The State of Israel will never be equal as long as the word 'black' has a dubious place in the language, in expressions, in dictionaries and in the institution's attitude towards blacks," MK Yevarken stated. Such expressions, he noted, were conceived by “privileged white people in past centuries who had a prejudiced outlook on half of humanity. The word 'race' was invented to control other groups. In my opinion, it has been humanity's most common cause of death since the world was created."

“There is no such thing as race. There are species of animals, trees and such, but the human race is a single race which originated from Adam and Eve, and this is the belief of the three religions: Islam, Christianity and Judaism. The word 'race' was even wrongly placed in our Declaration of Independence, and we must revise it. There is no fight against racism; there is a fight against ignorance, discrimination and exclusion."

MK Yankelevitch said that in any properly functioning country, “every citizen is entitled to an equal opportunity, even if s/he is a member of an excluded, peripheral segment of society." Israeli society, she told the plenum, “is made up of countless cultures, shades and contrasts. The attempt to label certain publics as extremist – to take two percent of the margins of society and present them as [being representative of an entire segment of a population] – is detrimental to us; the Arabs as terrorists; [Israeli Ethiopians] as violent youth; Bedouins as criminals and Haredim as outlaws. This discourse is the alliance of the extremists, whose goal is to force a violent discourse on the sane public, and it is the citizens of Israel, who are forced to live in a reality that nurtures walls of hatred, who [suffer from this]. I ask you here, from this dais: let's change the rules of the game."

“We must accept the other without trying to label him," she continued. “The diverse cultures are our beauty and uniqueness. We mustn't blur or harm them. We must allow he who is different the right to preserve his principles, faith, values, culture and customs, and nurture who he is as part of the whole," MK Yankelevitch stated. “Everyone is entitled to an equal opportunity in a properly functioning society, even if he belongs to a peripheral segment of society. He does not have to change in order to receive rights. The attempt to change the other is not true liberalism. Rather, it is radicalism hiding behind a false [guise]. Had I not been given the opportunity to study in hafrada (separate study settings for men and women), I would probably not have studied law in the academia. The war against separate studies is not a war for liberalism; it is an anti-liberal fight. Separation is not exclusion."

MK Tesler said, “The systematic and constant erosion of the status quo… has led to a situation where it hardly has any significance today. The wall of Shabbat is repeatedly desecrated in the public sphere. It needs protection, and that is why I am here. Yeshiva students for whom [Torah study is a profession] should know and be certain that their status will not be harmed or changed, because the study of the Torah is a Jewish value which we have sacrificed ourselves for throughout the generations."

“71 years have passed since the State of Israel was established, and the Haredi public still does not have its own rights; basic rights which should have been a given in our reality. If we will not fight for them, no one will see that we receive them, and this is true in almost every field: housing, education, employment, transportation," MK Tesler stated.

“We are in a bizarre and unbelievable movie. About a month after we went to elections, there is a chance that the entire country will once again march to the polling stations, and for what? Because of a political whim which has no logic or truth to it. I ask you, MK [Avigdor] Liberman, as someone who until recently was a member of the Ashdod City Council, I was shocked when you chose to come on the holy Shabbat to tour Ashdod, to incite against those who observe the Sabbath and hurt the sanctity of Shabbat. And I ask you: what is your goal? Look at [MK] Yair Lapid; look where he ended up with the incitement and hatred. Are you trying to compete with him? To be the eternal oppositionist who yells in the town squares? Is that what you want to be?"