Netanyahu Allies Defy  High Court Ruling on Knesset

Blue and White party by former Chief in Staff of IDF Benny Gantz decried attack on democracy as members of Likud-led bloc led bu PM Benjamin Netanyahu advise Yuli Edelstein, Speaker on the Knesset to ignore the High Court and block vote in which Blue and White would gain control of the legislative body.

A number of high profile members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing religious bloc called Monday afternoon on Knesset Speaker Edelstein to defy a High Court ruling given earlier in the day ordering him to hold a parliamentary vote to choose a new speaker by Wednesday.

The statements by Likud ministers and several MKs, which drew immediate condemnation from at least two others within the party and many MKs across the aisle, marked a dramatic and possibly unprecedented turn in an already twisting political saga in which many critics see a threat to Israeli democracy as the country attempts to navigate the coronavirus outbreak.

Edelstein set off a firestorm of criticism last Wednesday after he refused to allow the Knesset plenum to convene to vote on establishing the Arrangements Committee and electing a new speaker.

He at first argued the freeze was linked to safety precautions amid the coronavirus outbreak, and later claimed it was meant to force Likud and Blue and White to compromise in unity talks.

Some critics said it amounted to an illegal shuttering of parliament by Likud in order to improve the party’s leverage in the coalition talks, and others asserted that it constituted part of an attempted political coup in which the will of a majority of MKs, headed by Blue and White’s Benny Gantz, was being illicitly obstructed.

While the Arrangements Committee vote was set to go ahead Monday afternoon, it was not clear whether or when Edelstein would allow a vote on his position, which holds the power to bring legislation for a vote or quash it.

On Monday, the High Court said Edelstein must hold a vote on his job by Wednesday, giving him until 9 p.m. Monday to respond to the ruling.

Blue and White is proposing its MK Meir Cohen for the post, and appears to have a majority to back him.

Some leading Netanyahu allies said Edelstein should refuse to obey the court order, arguing that the justices do not have jurisdiction over parliamentary procedures.

Other voices, mainly from Gantz’s bloc, said defying the court would be anti-democratic.