Opposition Parties Challenge Netanyahu as New Knesset Convenes

Israel’s newly elected parliament convened in Jerusalem on Tuesday, setting off an immediate legislative clash as opposition parties holding a majority of seats moved to challenge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar party and Netanyahu’s main challenger, submitted a package of bills aiming to establish a state commission of inquiry into the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks, set prime ministerial term limits, and roll back the outgoing government’s judicial overhaul, The Washington Post reported.

The opposition coalition is currently 13 seats short of the 61 needed to form a government, giving Eisenkot roughly six weeks to negotiate a coalition, according to The Washington Post.

While those talks continue, the opposition has already deployed its parliamentary majority to request a vote for a new Knesset speaker who can set the legislative agenda, The Guardian reported. The opposition has nominated Matan Kahana, a senior member of Eisenkot’s Yashar party, to replace Netanyahu loyalist Amir Ohana, according to NBC News and The Guardian.

Netanyahu hit back during an impassioned Knesset speech on Tuesday, labeling Arab parties that could potentially support Eisenkot’s bloc as “terror supporters,” The Washington Post reported. The prime minister warned that relying on the Joint List and Ra’am parties would spell “the end of the Jewish state,” asking lawmakers from the podium if they were prepared to place the country’s fate into their hands.

Eisenkot denounced Netanyahu’s address as “delusional, divisive, hate-filled, and shameful,” according to The Guardian and Yahoo. The speech also prompted center-left Democrats leader Yair Golan and former police chief Yoav Segalovich to walk out in protest, The Guardian reported.

The first Knesset session featured several disorderly confrontations. Former prime minister Naftali Bennett interrupted Netanyahu to ask about his Qatari advisers and investigating October 7, which drew an inaudible response from Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, and son, Yair.

Eisenkot’s bloc and Yair Golan’s Democrats also submitted proposals to repeal laws that eroded the powers of the attorney general, altered the Judicial Selection Committee, and advanced a media overhaul led by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, The Times of Israel reported.

Although Netanyahu previously blocked an independent state inquiry by arguing a Supreme Court-appointed panel would be biased, opposition lawmakers made establishing the probe a central campaign promise, according to The Times of Israel.

It remains unclear how quickly or how far the opposition’s newly introduced bills will advance in the weeks ahead, or whether Eisenkot will successfully forge a coalition government before his six-week mandate expires, according to NBC News.