Ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s arrival in Israel, Israeli opposition lawmakers are planning to boycott the Indian leader’s Knesset address. This boycott call comes amid a tiff between opposition law makers and the Knesset speaker Amir Ohana.
PM Modi is on a two-day visit to Israel as an effort to boost ties and cooperation between India and Israel. With his address at the Knesset, Modi will become the first Indian leader to address the Israeli parliament. Follow LIVE updates on Modi’s Israel visit here
As per a report by Israeli daily Haaretz, opposition leaders are in a standoff with Ohana over his decision to snub the Supreme Court President, Isaac Amit, for the special session. This decision reflects the Netanyahu government’s overhaul of the judiciary, which challenges the authority of the Supreme Court President Yitzhak Amit and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara.
The judicial overhaul in Israel has been a major flashpoint for the nation. With the Netanyahu government pushing for larger control, the move was met with nation wide protests in 2023. However, these protests soon declined due to Israel’s war in Gaza.
Opposition leaders have called on the Knesset speaker to invite the SC President, which would enable them to participate in the special session.
“We want to be in the session, we need to be in the session. Prime Minister Netanyahu must instruct Ohana to allow us to participate in the session,” wrote Yair Lapid, the leader opposition on X as a special request to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
‘Don’t want India to be embarrassed’
Lapid was the one to announce the boycott last week, stating that the Amit’s snub is also a “boycott of the opposition.” On Thursday, the Israeli leader once again urged the Knesset speaker to invite the Supreme Court president, stating that they do not want “India to be embarrassed.”
“The opposition does not want India to be embarrassed, with the leader of a nation of one and a half billion people standing here before a half-empty Knesset,” said Lapid in parliament.
The speaker, in return, accused the opposition of impacting Israel’s ties with “one of the most significant powers of the world.”
Ohana further targeted Lapid and called the opposition leader out for attending the special session with US President Donald Trump and Argentine President Javier Milei, adding that Justice Amit was not invited to these sessions.
24 hours before Modi’s arrival, Lapid once again urged Netanyahu to intervene and extend and invite to the Supreme Court justices so that Israel “can be united in the eyes of a friend.”
“Call Ohana, tell him to invite Supreme Court President Amit, allow us to come to the event that we need to be at and want to be at, and don’t lend your hand to harming one of the most important alliances of the State of Israel. It is fitting that the world see us all united during the visit to Israel of a great friend and ally,” he wrote on X.
What’s on agenda for Modi’s first day in Israel?
After his arrival, Modi and Netanyahu are expected to hold a limited meeting at Ben Gurion Airport , before heading to Jerusalem, where at 4:30 pm (local time). they will be received in an official welcome ceremony at the Knesset.
The Indian PM is then slated to address the Knesset plenum after an address by Netanyahu.
At 6 pm (local time), the leaders will attend an innovation event in Jerusalem, before having an official dinner at the King David Hotel together at 7:30 pm (local time). PM Modi is also expected to call on President Isaac Herzog during his visit.
