Lapid: Netanyahu’s people shot Israel’s democracy point-blank

Opposition leader Yair Lapid strongly condemns the coalition’s cancelation of a parliamentary vote forming a commission of inquiry into the submarines affair, accusing Likud members of unraveling Israel’s democracy.

He says: “I’ve been a member of Knesset for eight years. Never has a vote been canceled after the vote. I’ve spoken to the longest serving members of this house, none of them remember something like this. In the history of the Knesset never has the speaker of the Knesset canceled a vote in a session he wasn’t even managing. If you can cancel votes, you can close the Knesset. It isn’t needed anymore.”

Lapid calls the parliament “just a theater so that Netanyahu can go around the world and claim Israel is still a democracy.”

Lapid says the government was eager to block the formation of the commission of inquiry because “if a committee is formed to investigate the submarine scandal, it will get to Netanyahu. He is up to his neck in this scandal. That’s why they are willing to do everything to prevent an investigation.”

He also expresses his disappointment that his allies-turned-rivals Blue and White skipped the vote.

“They aren’t the last line of defense for democracy, they are the last line of defense for Netanyahu,” says Lapid. “Netanyahu’s people shot Israel’s democracy from point blank range and Blue and White ran away again.”