Knesset speaker to okay parliamentary oversight of virus response amid outcry

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein on Tuesday said parliamentary panels would be formed to oversee the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, following withering criticism by the Blue and White party.

Members of Blue and White came down hard on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the crisis on Tuesday, accusing him, and Edelstein, of obstructing parliamentary oversight.

The centrist party on Tuesday sent an urgent letter to Edelstein, asking him to green light a plenary vote on Wednesday to form the parliament’s Arrangements Committee, which in turn, would staff the parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Finance Committee, and create a special panel on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Israel has banned all gatherings of over 10 people due to the virus. Knesset lawmakers were sworn in on Monday in batches of three as a health precaution, following the March 2 election.

Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz spoke to Edelstein on Tuesday and urged him to allow the Knesset to function normally using video conferencing or finding other “creative” solutions.

“The Knesset is an essential institution that must be allowed to function, particularly in times of crisis,” Gantz told Edelstein, according to a statement.

The Knesset speaker, a member of the rival Likud party, later tweeted that he would bring the issue to a plenary vote, if the political parties failed to work out an agreement on the makeup of the committees.

“If the parties don’t reach an agreement, I will bring the issue of the formation of the committees to the plenum. We won’t remain without parliamentary oversight of the government,” said Edelstein, adding, however, that he would not permit violations of the Health Ministry restrictions on gatherings of over 10 people.

Israel hasn’t had a functioning government since December 2018, and three consecutive rounds of elections have failed to yield a ruling coalition. Gantz this week was given first shot at forming a government after the recent March 2 vote, though it remains unlikely he can do so without Netanyahu’s Likud. Netanyahu has called for an emergency unity government to be formed under his leadership, but the parties have squabbled over the terms of such an alliance.

Tuesday marked five years since Knesset elections that ended with a governing coalition were last held — on March 17, 2015.

Lapid: Israel is no longer a democracy

Gantz earlier on Tuesday called the restrictions on parliament, ostensibly to combat the virus, “a dangerous precedent for democracy.”

“Likud, via Netanyahu and MK Edelstein, are trying at any cost to prevent the Knesset from working,” said Gantz. “It isn’t enough that the Knesset hasn’t been functioning for an entire year, now they also want the new Knesset to not do the minimum amount of work that is necessary in a crisis.”

Blue and White MK Lapid, No. 2 on the slate, went further, declaring that Israel “is no longer a democracy.” He cited the introduction of mass surveillance of Israeli citizens — to track Israeli virus cases and those with whom they interact — without parliamentary oversight, and decisions to shut down the operations of the judiciary and legislature due to the spiraling coronavirus outbreak.

“It’s possible that it doesn’t really interest you with all this coronavirus in the air, but as of today, you no longer live in a democracy,” Lapid wrote in a Facebook post addressed to Israeli citizens.

“The judiciary was closed four days ago, in an order given at 1 a.m., without anyone knowing about it,” he said, referring to Likud’s Justice Minister Amir Ohana’s decision to close the courts, days before Netanyhau’s corruption trial was set to begin.

That move prompted accusations that Netanyahu was using the COVID-19 crisis to evade justice, though many other governments across the globe have already implemented, or are about to implement, similar restrictions on their legal systems.

“The legislature was closed today, illegally,” Lapid continued. “The previous Knesset’s speaker, who wasn’t elected to the position [in the current legislature], closed the Knesset. Before that, he refused the request of a majority of the Knessset, 62 MKs, to pick a new speaker instead of him.”

Knesset Speaker Edelstein blocked a Blue and White vote to replace him on Monday. Blue and White, in a Friday letter to Edelstein, informed him of its intent to hold a vote on the identity of the new speaker shortly after all 120 MKs were officially sworn in Monday, following the March 2 vote. The move by Blue and White was seen as a power play ahead of coalition-building attempts, as the party believes it can secure a majority in the new legislature to take the reins of parliament from Likud for the first time in more than a decade.

Control of the Knesset speaker position would give the opposition parties more power to advance legislation, including a potential bill that would prevent a person facing criminal charges from forming a government — effectively disqualifying Netanyahu from doing so.

After Edelstein refused to hold the vote, the centrist party appealed to the Knesset legal adviser to determine whether he had the power to do so. Some Hebrew reports said the Knesset speaker does not need to approve a vote on his replacement until a new government is sworn in.

Edelstein’s maneuver meant the Knesset committees would not convene, continued Lapid, “including the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, which will ensure that you aren’t being monitored illegally.”

He was referring to the government decision Monday night to use advanced technologies to track citizens in a bid to limit exposure to sick individuals.

The approval of the emergency measure bypassed the Knesset — a move Netanyahu had said would not be done — after a subcommittee on clandestine services on Monday stopped short of approving the highly controversial surveillance program, pending additional debate.

Netanyahu’s Likud party condemned Blue and White for staging a “power grab” while the country is steeped in an epidemiological crisis, but called for a meeting on Tuesday night between the parties to reach a deal on the committees.

“While Prime Minister Netanyahu is fighting around-the-clock against the coronavirus to save the lives of Israeli citizens, Blue and White MKs and [Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor] Liberman are dealing with political wheeling-dealing in order to stage a power grab via anti-democratic legislation. Instead of displaying responsibility and joining an emergency government, they are engaged in petty politicking, in total breach of their promises to their supporters,” it said.

Former justice minister and ally of Netanyahu Ayelet Shaked, of the Yamina party, on Tuesday called for the Knesset committees to be staffed to oversee the government monitoring and prevent abuse.

In his post, Lapid argued that the Knesset could convene remotely via video, but that the caretaker government doesn’t want oversight, “because it knows it’s making serious mistakes, fateful ones, both medically and — mostly — economically.”

“Right now, the only functioning institution in the country is an unelected transitional government, with a prime minister who lost the election,” continued Lapid. “If there is no majority in the Knesset — he closes the Knesset. If he needs to stand trial — he closes the courts.”

The caretaker government “told us we cannot leave our homes,” said Lapid, referring to new Health Ministry restrictions introduced on Tuesday. “If you want to appeal this decision, or even ask that someone appraise it — there is no one to ask. As of now, Benjamin Netanyahu and Yuli Edelstein have shut down Israeli democracy.”

Echoing Lapid, fellow Blue and White MK Moshe Ya’alon accused Netanyahu of using the coronavirus to neuter Israeli democracy.

“Blue and White will establish as broad an emergency government as possible, even if we start with a narrow government, to save the country. We won’t allow Netanyahu to turn Israel into a dictatorship,” Ya’alon, a former member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, tweeted.

Yisrael Beytenu leader Liberman also assailed Netanyahu over his response to the coronavirus outbreak, accusing him of leading Israel to “total collapse.”

Noting complaints over a lack of protective gear for medical workers and an inability to carry out mass tests for the virus, Liberman also labeled as a “failure” the budget deficit and the struggles of the Israeli Employment Service to handle a large number of applications, with unemployment expected to rise.

“Who’s responsible for all this? Who was prime minister for the last decade?” Liberman wrote on Facebook. “One man whose name is Benjamin Netanyahu, who at the the moment instead of leading a brave move of unity and getting out of the crisis, is leading us toward collapse.”

He added: “All of us must internalize, Netanyahu’s public relations campaign won’t eradicate the coronavirus and won’t solve the economic crisis.”

Liberman was a former ally of Netanyahu but fell out with the premier after the first of three elections this past year, helping trigger the current political deadlock. This week he recommended that Gantz form the next government.

Israel has introduced a series of sweeping restrictions since the outbreak began, requiring all Israelis returning to the country to self-quarantine for 14 days and barring foreigners unless they displayed an ability to quarantine. It also shut schools, cafes, malls, gyms and more. Ministers early on Tuesday approved a highly controversial measure to allow the government to track Israelis’ phones to locate carriers of the virus.

On Tuesday, widening the restrictions, the Health Ministry told Israelis not to leave their homes or visit parks and beaches, with exceptions made for essential needs, like food shopping, medicine shopping, medical care, and work.

There have been 324 COVID-19 cases in Israel.