Speaker of Parliament quits, but political deadlock no closer to end

The speaker of Israel’s parliament, Yuli Edelstein, a staunch ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, abruptly resigned Wednesday rather than comply with a Supreme Court order that would allow lawmakers to choose his successor.

The move will allow Benny Gantz’s opposition Blue and White party and other opponents of Netanyahu to take control of the legislative process.

In a parting gift to the embattled prime minister, however, Edelstein said his resignation as the Knesset speaker would become effective only Friday, ensuring that anti-Netanyahu lawmakers would have to wait until the coming week to assert their newfound power.

The machinations, which came as hundreds of protesters with black flags demonstrated and shut down traffic outside parliament, did not end there. Blue and White said that because Edelstein’s resignation had not taken effect yet, his refusal to allow a vote on a new speaker amounted to contempt of court.

Even Israel’s president, Reuven Rivlin, weighed in, rebuking Edelstein.

“It is the duty of every one of us to obey the rulings of the courts,” he said.

The resignation of Edelstein, 61, appeared to defuse a constitutional crisis that had been brewing for weeks, but it left Israel still no closer to resolving its long political deadlock.

Opponents of Netanyahu won a slim majority in parliamentary elections March 2 — the country’s third inconclusive ballot in the past year.

Their leader, Gantz, has made overtures to Netanyahu and his Likud party about joining a unity coalition, among other things, citing the emergency posed by the coronavirus outbreak. But Netanyahu has insisted he remain prime minister.

To pressure Netanyahu, who is awaiting trial on corruption charges, Gantz and his allies want parliament to enact legislation that could prevent Netanyahu from running if the country is forced into a fourth election.

But Edelstein, a member of the Likud party, stood in the way. Citing the virus, Edelstein first disbanded parliament last week and then let it reconvene. But he said he would not allow a vote to choose a new speaker.

On Monday, the Supreme Court declared that Edelstein’s stance “undercuts the foundations of the democratic process” and ordered him to relent by Wednesday.

Some Likud ministers accused the court of a “judicial coup” and urged Edelstein to defy the ruling. But he demurred.