Yamina rebel seeking to delay Knesset meeting on party ouster
A rebel lawmaker in Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s Yamina party moved Wednesday to delay the premier’s effort to push him out of the party, after the decision by another lawmaker in the faction to bolt the coalition left the government without a majority.
MK Amichai Chikli ran as part of Yamina in last year’s elections but refused to join the ruling coalition over its inclusion of the Islamist Ra’am party. He has remained in the party, however, while opposing the government on numerous key votes.
Bennett’s party held off on seeking to brand Chikli a defector despite his rebellion, but last week pushed ahead with the punitive measure, which could limit Chikli’s ability to run again or serve in certain capacities. The move was seen as a bid to stop other MKs from bolting, after Yamina MK Idit Silman left the coalition, depriving the government of its majority and leaving the Knesset deadlocked.
In a letter Wednesday to the Knesset House Committee, which will hear Yamina’s request to have Chikli branded a defector, his lawyer wrote that the April 25 hearing “was scheduled in haste” and did not leave the MK sufficient time to prepare.
The letter also denounced the decision to call the meeting as “lacking legal and public foundations” and suggested it was only scheduled because of Bennett’s “forbidden influence.”
“Please enlighten the petitioner that we are still a democratic country, that he is not a king or sultan, and despite his desire to do harm and evil, this does not abolish fundamental rights,” wrote the lawyer, Guy Bossi.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett speaks with MK Idit Silman at the Knesset in Jerusalem, January 5, 2022 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
The letter asked that the meeting be delayed until at least May 25, which would follow the Knesset’s return from recess earlier that month.
It remains unclear if there will be sufficient support for Yamina’s push to oust Chikli. The House Committee is led by Yamina MK Nir Orbach, who has himself put forward several right-wing demands to remain in the government and is one of several MKs in Bennett’s party considered as having the potential to follow Silman in breaking with the coalition.
If approved, his ouster could be a blow to Chikli’s political aspirations, as Knesset rules would prevent him from running with any faction currently sitting in the parliament in the next elections, which — if the government collapses without an alternative proposal from the opposition — could be declared soon.
Chikli, however, could potentially form a new political faction, something he has recently hinted that he is considering.