by Mati Tuchfeld
There are rules, laws and statutes that finely regulate the balance of power within the Knesset's walls. The High Court's intervention in this process is a dangerous precedent of the highest order.
In two-and-a-half weeks Benny Gantz will lose the mandate he received from the president to form the next government, after failing to make any headway thus far. Ever since President Reuven Rivlin tasked him with forming the next government, Gantz has mostly focused on seizing control of the legislature while almost completely neglecting the main goal of the mandate he was given.
If he fails in his mission – and as of now this appears to be the direction – Rivlin won't be able to give Gantz a two-week extension and will have to transfer the mandate to Benjamin Netanyahu. Even if the prime minister won't even want to form a government, preferring another election instead, he will ask for the president's mandate just to stop the rampaging Blue and White and left, which are treating the Knesset as their own personal headquarters.
When the High Court required Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein to convene the plenum to discuss his replacement, he was faced with two bad options: disobey, or obey. It's unclear which is worse.
On one hand, the time has come for the legislative branch to show the judicial branch that its days of unlawfully appropriating authority are over. To this end, Edelstein should have declared he has no intention of honoring the High Court's ruling, and stayed the course. But Edelstein is more stately than people think. Doing this would have been out of character. He can argue with the judges, criticize them, but he will always follow their rulings.
This time, however, there is a second issue, no less critical than the first. Respecting the High Court's decision, from Edelstein's perspective, would have been crossing a red line. Obedience would have created a dangerous precedent, allowing the High Court to complete its takeover of the Knesset. Appointing a Speaker or any other position in the government or Knesset is part of the normal political give and take which occurs in the Knesset on a daily basis. Political arm-twisting between the coalition and opposition, parliamentary games, muscle-flexing by committee leaders – are an inseparable part of the political experience.
There are rules, laws and statutes, however, that finely regulate the balance of power. The Knesset knows how to handle recalcitrant committee leaders uninterested in bringing issues under their purview to a hearing, just as it's capable of giving the Knesset Speaker the authority to occasionally override a majority bloc of MKs seeking heavy-handed legislation. Obeying the High Court this time would have removed all the restraints completely – a dangerous precedent of the highest order. Because after that point and moving forward it would mean just one thing: The court would be running the country's democratic house, not the elected officials.
Edelstein, therefore, took the middle path. He didn't obey the ruling, but also won't be continuing as Knesset Speaker. He is taking personal responsibility and resigning. And while he won't be able to save himself anymore from the boot of the High Court, he will likely save the Knesset. At least for now. Edelstein didn't believe the High Court judges would exhibit such a degree of imperviousness, and therefore chose to invest quite a bit of energy in his appeal, which was penned by two of the more prominent attorneys in the country. After formulating their response, which essentially rejects the High Court's intervention in the political game inside the Knesset, Yinon expressed astonishment at its depth of thought and quality of arguments.
The legal document, however, was of absolutely no interest to the appeals panel. From the moment it was sent from the Knesset to the Supreme Court, a mere 25 minutes passed before Yinon received word that a 19-page ruling would be delivered by the judges within a quarter of an hour. The judges wrote their ruling before Edlestein's appeal was even submitted. The judges stopped bothering with doing justice a long time ago. Now they don't even think they have to maintain appearances.
Mati Tuchfeld
Source: https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/edelstein-sacrificed-himself-for-the-knesset/
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