JERUSALEM, Mar 19 (NNN-MA’AN) – Israeli Speaker, Yuli Edelstein, adjourned all parliamentary sessions, in a move that enraged the opposition, amid a political stalemate.
Edelstein and a lawmaker with Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, opened the plenum session and then announced that all parliamentary meetings will be halted “until further notice.”
The rare move sparked angry responses from lawmakers from the opposition, who accused Netanyahu of using the outbreak of COVID-19, to keep his hold to power, after failing to secure enough votes to form a government in the recent elections.
The centrist Blue and White party, headed by Netanyahu’s main rival, Benny Gantz, vowed to challenge the move in court.
“Edelstein is working to crush Israeli democracy, on Netanyahu’s behalf,” the party said in a statement.
“The crisis in Israel requires an active Knesset (parliament) working for the citizens,” it added.
Israeli President, Reuven Rivlin, also a member of Netanyahu’s rightwing Likud party, urged Edelstein to ensure the Knesset’s regular activities.
“A Knesset that is out of action harms the ability of Israel to function well and responsibly in an emergency,” Rivlin told Edelstein.
“We must not let this crisis, as serious as it is, to harm our democratic system,” the president warned.
Israel’s new parliament was sworn in on Monday. Edelstein has been preventing the formation of main parliamentary committees that are vital to Knesset’s function.
He also blocked a vote to choose a new speaker, a key position that would probably be replaced with a lawmaker from the rival party.
Israel held the third elections within a year earlier the month, after the Likud and the Blue and White parties failed to form a coalition government, in the two previous elections in 2019.
Netanyahu has been charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust, in three separate cases, but his trial, scheduled to begin this week, was postponed until May 24, amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
