The speaker of the Knesset (Hebrew: יוֹשֵׁב רֹאשׁ הכנסת, romanized: Yoshev Rosh HaKnesset; Arabic: رئيس الكنيست, romanized: Ra'īs Al-Kinisit, lit. 'Chairman of the Knesset') is the presiding officer of the Knesset, the unicameral legislature of Israel. The Speaker also acts as President of Israel when the President is incapacitated. The current speaker is Amir Ohana, who was elected on 29 December 2022.
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Position
The Speaker and their deputies are elected by members of the Knesset. Until a Speaker is elected, the previous Knesset's speaker serves as acting speaker; however, if the previous Knesset's speaker has not been re-elected, the oldest Knesset member who is not the prime minister, the prime minister-elect, a minister or deputy minister serves as acting speaker instead.
The Speaker is responsible for conducting the affairs of the Knesset and representing the Knesset. They are also charged with preserving the dignity of the Knesset, the decorum of its sittings and observance of Knesset rules of procedure.
The Speaker is assisted by a number of Deputy Speakers. Together, the Speaker and Deputy Speakers constitute the Presidium of the Knesset. The Presidium sets the Knesset agenda.
Ahdut HaAvoda's Nahum Nir and Blue & White's Benny Gantz are the only Speakers not to have come from the ruling party, though in two cases (Avraham Burg and Reuven Rivlin) the party of the speaker (One Israel and Likud respectively) lost power during their term.
The Speaker is expected to act in a non-partisan nature, but may occasionally take part in debates, and is allowed to vote.
List of Knesset speakers
A total of twenty people have served as Speaker of the Knesset, two of whom, Reuven Rivlin and Yariv Levin, have served two non-consecutive terms.