Chikli says will go back to court to challenge rebel status

Lapid: Coalition on safe ground

The Knesset House Committee is expected to approve Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s request on Monday to declare renegade Yamina MK Amichai Chikli a hostile rebel who has left without following proper procedure.

Immediately after that, he intends to appeal the decision to the Jerusalem District Court.

Chikli attempted unsuccessfully on Sunday to persuade the Supreme Court to prevent Monday’s Knesset hearing. He also asked the Supreme Court to force Yamina leaders Bennett and Ayelet Shaked to come to the

Knesset, where they would be questioned by opposition MKs on why they did not keep their campaign promises.

The judges told Chikli to withdraw his petition because the Knesset decision had not been made yet.

Justice Uzi Vogelman said the court could only intervene if the decision against Chikli passes. Justice Yitzhak Amit asked Chikli if he could find another example of the court telling the Knesset not to deal with something,

By law, if Chikli is declared a rebel, he cannot run for the next Knesset with any current Knesset faction unless he quits the Knesset immediately, but he could form or join a new party.

“The decision in the Knesset will be political in essence,” Chikli told KAN News on Sunday. “My chances of winning are very low.”

The meeting will be chaired by Blue and White MK Eitan Ginzburg because the mother of Knesset House Committee chairman Nir Orbach (Yamina) passed away on Saturday. Her funeral was attended by coalition and opposition MKs, who both want the wavering Orbach on their side.

The case against another wavering Yamina MK, Abir Kara, was about to be closed, Ynet reported Sunday. Kara illegally voted twice in the Knesset plenum, which is a crime.

“After Abir Kara decided to save this government, of course the case will be closed,” Likud MK Shlomo Karhi said. “That is the deal. That is corruption.”

The coalition is “on safe ground” but “very complicated to maintain,” Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid told diplomatic reporters Sunday.

Asked how long it would last, he said: “I think we will make it through the next Knesset session [May 9 to July 27], and then you can ask me again.”