Israel parliament speaker shuts Knesset, enraging opposition

Israel's Knesset speaker Wednesday abruptly adjourned all parliamentary meetings until next week, pparently a response to the new coronavirus. The move, however, also pushed back the formation of committees that would discuss bills seeking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ouster.

The decision drew angry accusations from Netanyahu's opponents that the embattled prime minister is using the coronavirus crisis to cement his hold on power. Netanyahu's chief rival vowed to challenge the parliamentary delay in the Supreme Court, while Israel's president, a member of Netanyahu's Likud party, warned that the country's democratic system was being threatened.

“We must not let this crisis, as serious as it is, harm our democratic system,” President Reuven Rivlin said, as he implored Parliament Speaker Yuli Edelstein to ensure parliamentary activity. “We must do everything to deal with the crisis, being careful not to grievously harm our democratic system.”

The parliament was sworn in this week after March 2 elections. But Edelstein has been preventing parliament members from forming the key committees that would allow the legislature to function.

Edelstein is a member of Netanyahu's Likud and his successor would be chosen from the opposing Blue and White party. He pushed off a vote for his successor as well.

Blue and White's leader, former military chief Benny Gantz, has received the support of 61 members of Israel's 120-seat Parliament, the Knesset, and has been tasked with forming a government. When formed, the committees' compositions would reflect the new parliament with Netanyahu and his allies in the minority.

Blue and White has introduced a series of bills that would abruptly end Netanyahu's career. Even before the format ion of a government, it has the ability to push for votes on the legislation. They include proposals that would impose term limits on prime ministers and bar an indicted politician from forming or leading a government.

Critics accuse Edelstein of using his office to block the legislation.

Gantz accused Edelstein of “systematically refusing to allow us to come together as the most basic democratic institution and to work on behalf of the people, even as we are in the throes of attempts to contain the coronavirus.” He said there was “no choice” but to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Netanyahu has been indicted on a series of corruption charges and had been set to go on trial this week. The trial was delayed until May after his hand-picked justice minister shut down the court system, citing the coronavirus threat.

According to Rivlin's statement, Edelstein said he was working to resolve the parliamentary dispute.