Israeli lawmakers convene amid turmoil
JERUSALEM — Israel’s parliament reconvened Monday after the country’s Supreme Court ordered it to reopen for the selection of a new speaker, dealing a blow to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he tries to steer the country through the coronavirus outbreak and fend off a looming corruption trial.
The current speaker, Yuli Edelstein of Netanyahu’s Likud party, suspended the parliament’s activities last week, citing procedural issues and restrictions on large gatherings due to the virus. On Monday, he dismissed the court’s call to hold a parliamentary vote for his successor, deepening the political crisis.
But the opposition Blue and White party, which is backed by a slim majority in the newly elected Knesset, said the country’s legislature must continue to function at such a critical time. The party accused Edelstein of shuttering the halls of the legislature in order to keep his job and shield his beleaguered party leader.
“Democracy and law in Israel
will be protected even if it’s not comfortable for someone,” Blue and White leader Benny Gantz said in a speech to the mostly empty chamber. Israel has strictly limited the size of public gatherings due to the coronavirus threat.
Blue and White is expected to choose a new speaker and use its parliamentary majority to push through legislation that could prevent Netanyahu from serving as prime minister in the future. The Likud party has accused Blue and White of relying on the votes of Arab members of parliament to “trample democracy” amid a national state of emergency and vowed to boycott a vote for a new speaker.
The Knesset on Monday voted 61-0 in favor of convening the key Arrangements Committee, which is authorized to create the parliament’s other decision-making committees. Netanyahu and his allies boycotted the parliamentary vote.
A panel of five judges, chaired by Chief Justice Esther Hayut, had ordered Edelstein to announce by late Monday whether he planned to bring the selection of a new speaker up for a vote, or else they would be forced to rule against him.
In a harsh rebuttal, one of Netanyahu’s closest surrogates, Cabinet Minister Yariv Levin, accused the court of “formally taking control of the Knesset” and turning its speaker into a rubber stamp.
“If Chief Justice Hayut wants to put herself above the Knesset, she is invited to arrive to the building with her guards and open the session herself. That way it will be clear we are witnessing a coup,” he said.
Edelstein wrote in reply to the court that he will “not agree to an ultimatum,” and he said he would not put the Knesset speaker vote on the agenda until the political situation becomes clearer.
The crisis comes amid an aggressive outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in Israel, with Netanyahu looking to entice his rivals into an emergency unity government in the wake of the country’s third inconclusive election in less than a year.
In Israel, daily life has largely shut down with cases multiplying greatly over the past week, reaching nearly 1,250 people testing positive for the new virus. One patient has died and 24 are in serious condition.
Gantz has pledged to support the government in its effort to combat the virus. But he and his allies have been skeptical about Netanyahu’s power-sharing overtures, concerned that he will not follow through on his promises to cede power in 18 months.
The opposition has also accused Netanyahu of using the coronavirus crisis as cover to undermine the country’s democratic institutions. With the country in near-shutdown mode, Netanyahu has already managed to postpone his own pending criminal trial on serious corruption charges and authorize unprecedented electronic surveillance of Israeli citizens.