MK Haskel taken off Knesset podium for holding her daughter while speaking

An unusual event took place in the Knesset plenary on Tuesday, as MK Sharren Haskel (National Unity) wasn't allowed to speak while holding her baby girl.

She wanted to present her proposed bill for a first reading in the Knesset, but the Knesset's legal advisor asked her not to speak and to descend the podium.

The MK later released a statement about the incident, saying that "it's sad that the Knesset chairman, who has two children at home, chooses to prevent a woman with children from going up to the podium and presenting the bill like any member of the Knesset."

Combining motherhood and career

"I don't bring my daughter to work in order to provoke or get likes, but because I am a mother and I want to combine my motherhood with my career like every mother in the state of Israel," Haskel added.

שרן השכל רצתה לנאום עם התינוקת שלה במליאה, הייעוץ המשפטי לא אישר וסוסו נאלץ להוריד אותה מהדוכן. השכל: מבטיחה שלא יהיו קריאות ביניים pic.twitter.com/0HzdEXtvhC

— עמיאל ירחי (@amiel_y) June 27, 2023

"From the first day, this is something that I insist on, to go around with her proudly and without shame, not to hide her or to be ashamed of my motherhood but to prove to all women that it's possible and needed to make motherhood normal everywhere, even in the Knesset," Haskel continued. 

"In fact, there is no provision in the statutes that prevents a woman from speaking in the plenary with a baby, this is at the sole discretion of the Knesset chairman, who today made a sad decision, and the truth is humiliating and terrible for me as a mother. What they have understood in other parliaments will apparently take a long time in Israel."

The movement "building an alternative" stated in response that "Again, the Israeli government reminds us that the public space isn't a place where women are wanted. MK Sharren Haskel was removed from the podium in shame, only because she dared to do a horrible motherly thing and approach the podium with her baby. Women - the exclusion begins in the corridors of the government."