Even in the most extreme scenarios, no one in Israel could have imagined that the Knesset speaker would refuse to obey a High Court ruling. But this is what happened yesterday morning.

Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein resigned, claiming that morally, he could not follow the directive of the court to convene the parliament and hold a vote to replace himself. Edelstein explained that he is staying put for a chance to establish an emergency national unity government to confront the coronavirus crisis.

The drama peaked shortly after midnight, when the High Court Justices, in a historic move, appointed a temporary Knesset speaker, tasking Knesset veteran Amir Peretz of Labor with holding the vote. This means that two House speakers will serve simultaneously at least for one day, as Edelstein’s resignation goes into effect on Friday, while Peretz received authority to convene the Knesset today.

President of the High Court Esther Hayut criticized Edelstein’s conduct, stating that his refusal to adhere to the court’s direction damaged the rule of law. "There has never been such an occurrence in this country where a leadership figure publicly and defiantly refused to uphold a court order, saying that his conscience does not allow him to carry it out. … This is a situation that we cannot acquiesce to; unprecedented harm to the rule of law demands an unprecedented remedy,” she wrote.