Likud Knesset Speaker Warns Against 'Arab Votes' to Replace Him
Israel's Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana on Monday called on voters to prevent his replacement after the upcoming election, deploring that such a vote would require the participation of Arab lawmakers.
"If they replace the Knesset speaker on the basis of those votes, what is there left to say?" he told news site Ynet.
All recent polls suggest that a bloc led by former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot would not be able to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition without support from Arab parties. But a Knesset speaker may be appointed by the Knesset even before a government is formed.
Asked if he would refuse to convene the Knesset for a vote to replace him, as his predecessor Yuli Edelstein did, Ohana declined, saying he would not allow the appointment process to reach the High Court of Justice again. "We are law-abiding, and we always have been," he said.
Edelstein, who also served as Knesset speaker on behalf of Likud, refused in March 2020 to convene the Knesset to elect a permanent speaker, despite 61 lawmakers – a majority in the Knesset – demanding a vote and supporting his replacement.
The incident took place during a tumultuous period in Israeli politics, following the third of five elections held over a four-year period.
Edelstein argued that a permanent speaker should not be elected until the composition of the next governing coalition was clear. But the High Court unanimously rejected his argument. Then-Supreme Court President Esther Hayut said his continued refusal undermined the foundations of the democratic process.
Edelstein chose to resign rather than comply with the ruling, writing to the High Court justices that "my conscience does not allow me to comply with the ruling."
Ohana, who was justice minister at the time, encouraged Edelstein to defy the court even before the justices had ruled on the petition. When the High Court demanded that Edelstein say whether he would convene the plenum, Ohana said on X: "If I were the Knesset speaker, I would answer: No."
The Likud has long been running campaigns with messaging delegitimizing Arab parties and their supporters. The slogan "It's Bibi or Tibi," referring to Arab politician Ahmad Tibi, has been a focal point of campaigns for years.
In one of the most notorious incidents in 2015, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attempted to promote turnout among his supporters on Election Day by warning that "the Arabs are voting in droves." The comment drew harsh criticism in Israel and abroad, with Former President Barack Obama's administration saying it was "deeply concerned" by "divisive rhetoric" that sought to marginalize Israeli Arabs.
A recent poll by Reichman University's Institute for Liberty and Responsibility showed that most voters supporting the current opposition parties said they favor forming a government with the Arab parties in various coalition arrangements, while an overwhelming majority of supporters of Netanyahu's bloc completely object to the idea.