Some opposition parties to boycott Knesset celebration over snub of Supreme Court chief

Several opposition parties will boycott the Knesset plenum event marking the 60th anniversary of the Knesset building, in protest of Speaker Amir Ohana’s decision not to invite Supreme Court President Isaac Amit to the day’s festivities.

Ohana’s decision is the government’s latest snub of Israel’s top judge amid its push to weaken the judicial system. The chief justice also did not receive invitations to attend speeches by US President Donald Trump and several other world leaders.

“I suggest that the Knesset speaker and all coalition members focus on the war against Iran – not a war against the Supreme Court,” Blue and White leader Benny Gantz says to reporters at the Knesset before a faction meeting, referring to ongoing tensions with Tehran, after his party said in a statement that it will not attend the session.

“We are marking the Knesset building’s sixtieth year, and instead of turning this into a Zionist, unifying moment, [Ohana] insists on turning the Knesset from the house of the people into the house of half the people,” he continues.

“I call on the Knesset speaker and the prime minister: stop this madness. Don’t reward the extremists,” he adds.

Labor MKs Naama Lazimi and Gilad Kariv also condemn the refusal to invite Amit, and say that their party, now known as the Democrats, will boycott the Knesset plenum session as well.

“Forgive me if I am not impressed by the flowers, exhibits, activity corners, and  [David] Ben Gurion dolls,” Kariv says during a Knesset committee meeting.

He chides Ohana for inserting an “internal dispute between branches of government into the Knesset building.”

Addressing Ohana directly in a post on X, Kariv adds that he has directly “damaged the status of this house and is an embarrassment to us all.”