From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, April 6, 2021
Likud MK says he’ll be skipping Rivlin’s speech in protest
Likud MK Shlomo Karhi says he’ll be skipping President Reuven Rivlin’s opening speech at the Knesset swearing-in ceremony this afternoon.
Karhi, in a tweet, says: “Those who boycott the prime minister of Israel — who is the candidate who received the most recommendations [for the premiership] — belittle the ceremony of giving the mandate to form a government and trample on democracy and the votes of two million voters, are not worthy of being honored in Knesset.”
That appears to be a reference to Rivlin’s decision not to invite Netanyahu to the announcement earlier today, in which he gave the Likud leader first shot at trying to form a government. During the speech, the president noted that he was doing so reluctantly, both because no party leader appeared to have enough support to succeed at cobbling together a ruling coalition and because he had “moral and ethical” reservations given that Netanyahu is on trial for corruption.
The Times of Israel Community.