Israel’s 26th Knesset held its first sitting on Tuesday, with President Isaac Herzog using the opening speech to press lawmakers to investigate the October 7 attacks and to warn them against forcing another election.

Herzog urged the new parliament to “leave no stone unturned” and launch an inquiry into the 2023 Hamas assault, Al Jazeera reported. He also called on the parties to “make concessions” and do “everything possible to avoid a repeat election” — a pointed appeal, given that the 27 October vote left Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc short of a majority.

“Alongside the stubborn and determined war against those who seek to harm us, we must build a stable political horizon,” Herzog said. On Iran, he said the country “does not stop even for a moment in its plots and threats”, and that Israel “must fortify the alliance” with the United States.

The bills

Opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot, tasked on Sunday with forming a government within 28 days, moved on the same day his bloc took its seats. His centrist Yashar party has submitted the signatures of 61 newly elected members demanding an immediate vote on establishing a state commission of inquiry into October 7.

Hiru News, citing the Times of Israel, reported that Yashar and Yair Golan’s Democrats jointly filed bills to repeal three laws passed under Netanyahu: the law curbing the attorney general’s powers, the Judicial Selection Committee law, and Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi’s media reforms. Yashar separately proposed narrowing the circumstances in which a prime minister can be declared incapacitated, and limiting how long one may hold office.

The Democrats filed a wider list of their own, including barring people facing criminal charges from public office, permitting public transport on the Sabbath, legalising civil marriage, regulating the status of Haredi schools, writing equality into a basic law and expanding LGBTQ rights.

Netanyahu had previously refused a state commission of inquiry, arguing that a panel appointed by the Supreme Court would be biased against his government.

Not reported

Neither filing says whether Eisenkot has secured the coalition arithmetic to pass any of this. His bloc is itself short of a parliamentary majority, and his 28-day mandate — extendable by 14 days — is the clock that matters.