Opposition parties will boycott the special Knesset session hosting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday if Supreme Court Chief Justice Isaac Amit is not invited, opposition leader Yesh Atid MK Yair Lapid warned on Monday.
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana has instead invited former MKs to join the session in place of opposition lawmakers, to ensure the plenum appears full and without empty chairs, KAN News reported.
Ohana’s office told The Jerusalem Post that it was not uncommon to invite former Knesset members to such sessions.
“This is something that happens at every one of the special sessions held in honor of foreign leaders,” Ohana’s spokesperson said.
However, Ohana’s office did not respond to a request for comment on whether inviting the former MKs was directly aimed at filling seats during a potential opposition boycott.
Direct appeal to the PM for Amit's invitation
Lapid called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to direct Ohana to invite Amit, arguing that it would enable the opposition to attend the special session. Lapid cautioned that empty seats during Modi’s visit would send a negative message and potentially harm international relations.
“Ohana’s primaries are not more important than our relations with a major ally that is one of the most important countries in the world,” he said.
“We want to be at the session; we need to be at the session. Prime Minister Netanyahu must instruct Ohana to allow us to participate in the session,” Lapid said later on Monday during a Knesset press conference.
“We are not boycotting the plenum, we are being boycotted,” he added. “Ohana knows that by not inviting the chief justice of the Supreme Court to the event, he is not allowing us to be there. That turns it into a Knesset of half the country, without proper governance.
“I strongly urge the prime minister: make sure we are not boycotted during Modi’s visit. We want and need to be there,” he said.
The opposition has boycotted other Knesset sessions in the past over failure to invite Amit. Earlier this month, the seats of the plenum stood empty during a ceremonial session marking the opening of its building, after Amit was not invited.
The tensions come amid the rift between the government and the judiciary. The government has refused to formally recognize Amit as the Supreme Court’s chief justice.