Opposition MKs blast Ohana after he reveals top judge, AG deliberately not invited to Trump speech

Opposition MKs castigate Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana over his acknowledgement that the president of the Supreme Court and the attorney general were deliberately not invited to US President Donald Trump’s speech in the Knesset on Friday.

Democrats MK Gilad Kariv says he will insist on receiving a list of Likud “apparatchiks” who were invited to the event, accusing Ohana of “filling the [Knesset] visitors gallery” with Likud party functionaries “at the expense of the families of hostages.”

The MK adds that he will submit a formal complaint to the Knesset Ethics Committee over the incident.

“A Knesset speaker who does not recognize the Supreme Court president is not fitting [himself] for recognition by members of Knesset, and represents a danger to Israeli democracy,” says Kariv.

“It is doubtful if there has ever been a Knesset Speaker who trampled on the status of the Knesset as has Ohana.”

And Yesh Atid MK Karine Elharrar writes a letter to Ohana telling him the office of the Knesset speaker requires him to act apolitically, and on behalf of the entire spectrum of political parties in the Israeli parliament.

“It is not within your authority to boycott senior office holders from events just because they do not support the policies of the current government. This decision is unbecoming and harms the accepted norms in a democratic state,” she says.

Elharrar adds that she expects that all senior office holders in the country will be invited to the upcoming opening of the Knesset’s winter session.