Blue and White to Edelstein: ‘You’re not Netanyahu’s agent’

Blue and White urges the speaker of Israel’s parliament to allow the Knesset to consider and vote on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s immunity soon.

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, of Netanyahu’s Likud party, has dragged his feet on allowing the convening of the Knesset House Committee to consider Netanyahu’s immunity request in three corruption cases.

Edelstein today asked Knesset Legal Adviser Eyal Yinon for a legal opinion outlining his powers on the convening of the Knesset Arrangements Committee – a body that would in turn convene the Knesset House Committee.

In response, Blue and White says Edelstein “must not disrespect the Holy of Holies of Israeli democracy. We urge him to allow the establishment of the House Committee to discuss the immunity requested by Netanyahu. The Knesset should not be allowed to become a haven for a defendant charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust.”

Edelstein was “elected speaker of the Knesset, not Netanyahu’s agent in the Knesset. You must act accordingly,” the party says.

The upshot of the procedural wrangling: Blue and White believes it has a majority of the parliament’s 120 members for a vote against granting Netanyahu immunity – and so wants to force such a vote. That would mean Netanyahu may go to elections on March 2 under indictment.

— Raoul Wootliff