The Knesset plenum at Frumin House in Jerusalem in 1952. From bottom left to right: Haim-Moshe Shapira, Moshe Sharet, David Ben-Gurion and Ze’ev Sherf. Photo courtesy of the public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
JNS
The Knesset Museum was inaugurated on Monday, August 11 at Jerusalem’s Frumin House, which served as the temporary home of the Israeli parliament from 1950 to 1966. The first through fifth Knesset sessions were held in the historic landmark at 24 King George Street in the capital’s downtown.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana and Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion attended the official ceremony. Following the event, the public was able to enter the three-story building for the first time since 1966.
According to Israel’s public broadcaster Kan News, visitors will be able to enter the prime minister’s room, where a safe with the secret protocol of David Ben-Gurion’s announcement of Nazi official Adolf Eichmann’s capture is kept.
Visitors can take selfies alongside real-life sizes of historic figures such as Chaim Weizmann, Israel’s first president, and former prime ministers Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir and Menachem Begin, the report added.
Kol Yisrael, Israel’s public domestic and international radio service operating between 1951 and 1966, can be re-experienced via a broadcast booth modeled after the one from which radio reporters transmitted the heated debates, Kan reported.
The museum will also display vintage telephones from that era, which were used to relay the reports to the news system.
The exhibits throughout the Knesset Museum extensively utilize artificial intelligence.
Frumin House “is a building of national and historical importance in the history of the Jewish people, where laws were enacted, speeches were delivered, and debates were waged that shaped the character of the Knesset and the State of Israel,” Ohana said in a statement ahead of the event.
“Its transformation into a modern museum will contribute to deepening the public’s familiarity with its elected representatives throughout the generations, to understanding parliamentary processes, and will strengthen the field of culture and heritage,” he added.
Herzog was quoted by outlet Walla News as saying, “We all remember well that the Knesset is the optimal representation because it is the only authority elected by the people. We must be careful to honor it, to preserve its independence and the independence of its members. Woe to us if there is unanimity there.”
He continued, “There must never be a public without representation. We must fight for the right to have different opinions heard with respect. Otherwise, our national resilience will be undermined.”
Netanyahu commented: “The Knesset comes from the people, in the name of the people, and for the people. The location of Frumin House in the heart and center of the city gave an informal expression to a fundamental principle—the people are the sovereign. The people choose their representatives.”
Netanyahu also commented about Israel’s current war against Hamas in Gaza, saying that the country was standing “before the end of the campaign.”
As Israel is working “to defeat the remnants of the Iranian axis and free all our hostages …, we are here celebrating the fact of our existence and independence in the heart of our eternal capital, Jerusalem,” Israel’s longest-serving prime minister said.
