At the beginning of March, Israel elected a new parliament for the third time in a year. But the corona crisis is also increasing concern for the country's democratic principles. Government politicians question the Supreme Court.
Tel Aviv (dpa) - The Israeli historian and author Yuval Noah Harari is best known in Germany for his thoughtful explanations of world history. His book "A Brief History of Humanity" stayed on the bestseller lists for weeks. Last week, however, his collar apparently burst virtually: "The first coronavirus dictatorship," he scolded on Twitter. "In Israel emergency decrees are issued by someone who has no mandate from the people." Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has lost the election.
Israel has been in an extreme political situation for days - exacerbated by the global corona crisis. The right-wing religious government under Netanyahu broke up in late 2018. Since then, Israel has seen three parliamentary elections, the last one for the time being on March 2. But the political stalemate between the party block around Netanyahu and the center-left camp around his challenger Benny Gantz (blue and white) continued.
Amir Fuchs from the Israeli Democracy Institute said: "It's a constitutional crisis because we haven't had a coalition for a year and a half." On Wednesday, Parliament President Juli Edelstein resigned from the Likud ruling party after massive opposition pressure - and announced the closure of the Knesset by Monday. According to media reports, this brought thousands of people onto the street, protesting in their cars in front of the Knesset.
With his resignation, Edelstein avoided a decision by the Supreme Court to allow the opposition's re-election of the President of Parliament to take place on Wednesday at the latest. He spoke of a "gross and arrogant interference" by the court in parliamentary matters - after he had previously refused to allow the vote to take place.
Fuchs said of the court's interference: "No, it's the opposite. If there are (a majority of) 61 people who want to vote, the Knesset court helps, it doesn't fight against Parliament." Edelstein misused his authority in the sense of the Likud or in his sense.
Surprisingly, Gantz was elected new parliamentary president on Thursday - with the support of Likud. His own alliance broke when the course changed. According to media reports, the choice of Gantz should clear the way for a grand coalition with parts of blue and white.
Fuchs said of Edelstein's decision: "I see it as a big problem that they (the members of the transitional government) are trying to close the Knesset. If they had the majority, they would not do it." So far, with the support of the other opposition parties, Blau-Weiß has held a razor-thin majority of 61 parliamentarians in Jerusalem.
The opposition parties had also announced that they would introduce a law according to which an accused member of parliament could not be commissioned to form a government in the future. If the law were passed, Netanyahu could not become prime minister if he was re-elected because of his corruption charges - a horror scenario for the Likud-led interim government.
Last week, Edelstein had temporarily closed the parliament, thereby delaying the appointment of parliamentary committees until Monday. Gantz accused Edelstein of acting on the instructions of his party friend Netanyahu. Blue and white also criticized that during this crisis, Israel was governed by a transitional government without parliamentary and legal control that used the corona crisis for its purposes.
Fuchs said: "With regard to the Knesset in particular, they are using the corona crisis to delay the functioning of Parliament." Netanyahu also uses the almost nightly appearances at prime time for self-promotion. However, he does not assume that the requirements for the population, such as the exit restrictions, are made for political reasons, said Fuchs. "I think they're trying to do their best since." It is also understandable that the start of the corruption proceedings against Netanyahu due to the Corona crisis, which was planned for mid-March, was postponed.
Fuchs feared, however, that Israeli democracy would not be destroyed during the current exceptional situation. "I don't think we will have a dictatorship because of the Corona crisis," said the scientist, contradicting author Harari. "But we have to be careful, because democracy is undermined in emergency situations."
Link from Yuval Noah Harari