Israel has been teetering over a slide into anarchy with unbridled attacks on democratic institutions inspired by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On Monday, March 23, Israel took another big step closer to the edge. And unlike in previous conflicts, the prime minister did not defend the power of the Supreme Court and other democratic organs of the state.

For the first time in Israeli history, senior government ministers from the ruling party were heard urging disobedience of a High Court order for Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein (Likud) to convene the plenum and hold a vote for his replacement by March 25. For the first time, the speaker of the Knesset quit his job to avoid obeying a court ruling. Such events should have meant a judicial and constitutional earthquake in the country, but Netanyahu has exploited the coronavirus crisis to sail through the storm.

Acting on behalf of Netanyahu, Justice Minister Amir Ohana and Tourism Minister Yariv Levin led the assault on the nation’s top court. Ohana's is a bizarre appointment of a young junior Knesset member perceived as a puppet of the prime minister. Levin has been perhaps the minister closest to Netanyahu for quite some time. Neither minister minced words on Monday after the court instructed Edelstein to explain why he was refusing to convene the plenary to elect a new speaker. The justices also ordered Edelstein to allow the resumption of Knesset deliberations after he suspended the parliament on March 18 in a bid to keep control of the legislature from the Blue and White Party, which won a majority with its allies in the March 2 elections.

Ohana and Levin called on Edelstein to defy the court’s orders in unheard-of language. Levin said, "If Chief Justice Hayut wants to put herself above the Knesset, she is invited to arrive to the building with her guards and open the session herself. That way it will be clear we are witnessing a coup.”