From the Liveblog of
Thursday, February 6, 2025
Knesset Speaker Ohana says he will boycott new Supreme Court chief’s swearing-in ceremony
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. 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"
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana announces he will boycott newly elected Supreme Court President Isaac Amit’s swearing-in ceremony at the President’s Residence next week.
In a letter to President Isaac Herzog, Ohana complains about the court’s January 2024 ruling striking down a quasi-constitutional Basic Law that constituted a key component of the government’s judicial overhaul agenda.
This ruling meant that the judiciary had “expropriated from the Knesset the sovereignty that was entrusted to it” by the citizens of Israel, he writes.
In addition, Ohana slams what he claims was the “fundamentally crooked selection process” that led to Amit’s appointment.
“As Knesset Speaker, I cannot accept these dangerous and anti-democratic processes. Therefore, at this stage, I will not accept the invitation, and I will not participate in events of the judicial authority, including the upcoming inauguration ceremony,” Ohana writes.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin had previously announced that he would also not attend the ceremony, after boycotting the vote in which Amit was chosen. Hebrew media has reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will also not attend the event.
In a statement, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid insists that Levin and Ohana’s boycott of the event “only humiliates them and their government.”
“Judge Amit was legally elected, the members of the Judicial Selection Committee were legally elected. There is no legal significance to the absence of Levin and Ohana; it is simply a basic lack of respect for the state, its laws, its institutions and the tradition of Israel,” he says, adding that he plans on attending the ceremony.
