Knesset speaker accuses Lapid of harming Israel-India ties in fight over Supreme Court chief

By Sam Sokol 18 February 2026, 5:05 pm

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Sam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

Supreme Court President Isaac Amit presides over a hearing on petitions against the appointment of David Zini as head of the Shin Bet, November 18, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana accuses Opposition Leader Yair Lapid of harming Israeli-Indian relations after he threatened to boycott an upcoming Knesset speech by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi unless Supreme Court President Isaac Amit is invited to the special session.

“If the leader of the opposition, MK Yair Lapid, wants to harm the foreign relations of the State of Israel with an important friend of ours who is also one of the most important powers in the world — that is his choice. An unfortunate, wrong choice and I hope he will reverse it,” tweets Ohana, calling such threats “illegitimate weapons in an internal political struggle.”

Ohana calls on Lapid to explain to the Indian government why he did not choose to boycott appearances by Argentinian President Javier Milei and US President Donald Trump “even though Justice Amit was not invited” to their speeches.

Lapid told lawmakers in the Knesset this morning: “If the coalition boycotts the president of the High Court during the special session with the prime minister of India, we will not be able to attend the debate.” He argued that another public boycott of Amit by the coalition would cause “enormous embarrassment” to the legislature.

“We do not want India to be embarrassed by us, with the prime minister of a nation of a billion people standing here in front of a half-empty Knesset. The Indian Embassy is in a panic over this,” Lapid claimed.

Following Amit’s election as court president in January 2025, Justice Minister Yariv Levin refused to recognize his authority and pledged to boycott him. As a result, Amit has been excluded from Knesset events to which he would have traditionally been invited.