Knesset legal adviser: Replacing Edelstein with Bismuth as FADC chair threatens legal integrity of Haredi draft bill

Knesset legal adviser Sagit Afik warns members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that its plan to oust chairman Yuli Edelstein and replace him with Boaz Bismuth could be construed as politically motivated and therefore call into question the legal standing of any legislation put forth by the committee on Haredi enlistment.

In a letter sent to members of the committee, Afik emphasizes that the Knesset “should avoid replacing a serving committee chair for political reasons” and can only do so in “truly exceptional cases.”

Replacing Edelstein with Bismuth, Afik writes, “could critically affect the integrity of the legislative process” and “disrupt the shaping of the bill.”

Afik suggests that if Bismuth is entering the role “pre-committed to passing a specific version of the bill,” then it would be considered a fundamentally flawed legislative process. Instead, she says, he must head the committee “in good faith” and address all the issues raised in deliberations by the IDF and the security establishment.

The legislative process must “proceed according to a timeline” that reflects the requisite deliberation, and “not the political timetable of the government,” Afik concludes.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was pushed to oust Edelstein and replace him with Bismuth at the urging of the Haredi political parties, who have been demanding the passage of a law enshrining mass exemptions for yeshiva students from IDF service.

The United Torah Judaism and Shas parties both quit the government over the issue last month, although Shas has remained in the coalition. Edelstein refused to rubber stamp legislation that would have allowed for a mass exemption, saying only a consensus bill could be advanced.

The formal vote to instate Bismuth as head of the committee is slated for tomorrow.