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.