From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Edelstein’s full statement: Court’s actions extreme, destructive and dangerous
Here is Yuli Edelstein’s full statement of resignation:
On Monday this week the High Court of Justice ruled that the Knesset speaker must bring to a vote this very week the election of a new Knesset speaker.
The High Court ruling is not based on the letter of the law but on a one-sided and extreme interpretation. The High Court ruling contravenes Knesset regulations. The High court ruling destroys the work of the Knesset.
The High Court ruling constitutes crude and arrogant intervention of the judiciary in the matters of the elected legislature. The High Court decision causes unprecedented harm to the people’s sovereignty and the Knesset’s sovereignty. The High Court decision undermines the foundations of Israeli democracy.
As a democrat, as a Zionist Jew, as someone who fought against dark regimes, and as the speaker of parliament, I consider the High Court decision to be a grave, mistaken decision demonstrating a dangerous moral breakdown.
Members of the Knesset, as someone who paid a heavy personal price of years in jail and hard labor for the privilege to live as a citizen of Israel, there is no need for me to stress how much I love the State of Israel and the people of Israel.
And therefore as a democrat, as a Zionist Jew, as someone who has fought against dark regimes, and as the speaker off this house, I won’t allow Israel to descend into anarchy. I won’t lend a hand to civil war. I’ll act in the spirit of Menachem Begin, who in June 1948, in the days of the Altalena, prevented civil war.
Members of the Knesset, citizens of Israel, at this hour, our people need unity, need a unity government. At this time, as a pandemic endangers us from without, and rifts tear us from within, we all need to act like human beings, to act, to unify, to rise above. And therefore for the sake of the State of Israel, and in order to renew the spirit of statesmanship in Israel, I hereby resign from my position as Knesset speaker. We’ll pray, and we’ll work, for better days.
The Times of Israel Community.