the cat lady in Knesset

MK Yasmin Fridman (Yesh Atid) recently joined the Knesset under the overused Norwegian Law, in which a minister or deputy minister can resign from the Knesset, ostensibly to concentrate on the ministry under his or her purview and allow a different MK the ability to serve the country from the Knesset. Fridman made her way into the Knesset upon the resignation of Minister of Economy Orna Barbivai.

Fridman's inaugural speech in the Knesset was noteworthy by her proudly introducing herself as a fourth generation cat feeder. And she plans to be their representative in Knesset.

 

Yes, you heard correctly. She feeds stray cats. And dealing with protecting the stray cats will be a major focus of her term.

There is nothing wrong with that - it is even a good thing to be merciful to animals - but most MKs say they are going to serve the people and focus on various agendas that are to the benefit of whatever sector is being targeted. This is somewhat unusual as the cats did not exactly vote her in to office...

In a follow-up interview MK Fridman proposed the idea of the establishment of a national authority to deal with street cats. Fridman says that according to the numbers of the Ministry of Agriculture there are 1 million street cats in Israel, though she believes there is actually double that.

She can come by and take all the street cats from my area, with pleasure. We have had more than our share of baby cats born on our porch, along with more than enough baby cats that did not survive that had to be disposed of.... If this authority gets established just for that, dayeinu. Other than that, it seems like an idea that will turn into a big waste of money.

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