Israeli parliament speaker says will fill opposition benches with ex-lawmakers during Modi’s address: Report

Modis visit to Israel has gotten entangled in domestic politics, with the opposition threatening to boycott the Indian leaders parliamentary address unless the Supreme Court chief is invited for it as per protocol.

Undeterred by threats from the opposition to boycott Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to the Knesset (Israeli parliament), speaker Amir Ohana has said that he would fill those seats with former lawmakers, local media reported. Modi's visit to Israel has gotten entangled in domestic politics, with the opposition threatening to boycott the Indian leader's parliamentary address unless the Supreme Court chief is invited for it as per protocol. National broadcaster Kan reported on Monday that opposition party Yesh Atid's lawmaker Meirav Ben-Ari challenged Ohana during a meeting on the issue. ''Don't worry, I promise you that Prime Minister Modi will not speak to a half-empty plenum,'' Ohana is said to have told the lawmaker. Ohana, as per the report, said that ''of course'', Supreme Court President Yitzhak Amit had not been invited to attend the speech. Modi is expected to arrive in Israel on February 25 for a two-day visit, during which he is likely to address the Knesset and meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog. Leader of Opposition Yair Lapid has insisted that Supreme Court President Amit be invited to the Knesset when Modi addresses the house. Sources in the opposition maintain that it is not a call for the boycott; the government is ''intentionally trying to force us into a bad situation.'' ''If the coalition boycotts the President of the high court during the special session with the Prime Minister of India, we will not be able to attend the debate,'' Lapid told the lawmakers, stressing that another public boycott of Amit by the coalition would cause ''enormous embarrassment'' to the legislature. ''We do not want India to be embarrassed by us, with the Prime Minister of a nation of a billion people standing here in front of a half-empty Knesset,'' Lapid emphasised. Israel's domestic politics is embroiled in a heated debate over judicial overhaul, a divisive issue that has also sharply split the population for over two years. Following Amit's election as court President in January 2025, Justice Minister Yariv Levin has refused to recognise his authority as the Chief Justice and has refused to meet him or address him as head of the court. The State Gazette has also not published his name as the Chief Justice, as required by law. This has led to Amit's exclusion from multiple Knesset events -- including addresses by US President Donald Trump and other world leaders -- to which he would have traditionally been invited. The Leader of Opposition's (LOP) threat has led to heated exchanges in the political circles, with Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana accusing Lapid of harming the Indo-Israel relations in order to score domestic political points. The Knesset speaker also called upon the opposition leader to explain to the Indian government why he did not choose to boycott appearances by Argentinian President Javier Milei and US President Trump, ''even though Justice Amit was not invited'' to their speeches. Lapid had responded by issuing a public appeal to Netanyahu, agreeing that boycotting a foreign leader was indeed ''an illegitimate weapon in an internal political struggle'' but arguing that the fault lay with the Knesset speaker. To prevent harm to ties between Jerusalem and New Delhi, Netanyahu ''must immediately instruct Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana to also invite Supreme Court President Yitzhak Amit to the ceremonial meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi,'' Lapid asserted. ''Ohana's boycott of Justice Amit is also a boycott of the opposition, and will not allow us to attend the meeting,'' he said, insisting that he had ''no desire'' to harm the standing of the country, Knesset and Prime Minister but he was being ''push[ed] into a corner.'' Senior sources in the opposition told PTI that ''they (the government) are intentionally trying to force us into a bad situation.'' ''We are not calling for a boycott. We are calling on the PM and speaker to invite the President of the Supreme Court in accordance with the protocol,'' they said. ''We hope that the prime minister resolves this and avoids embarrassment during such an important visit by a great friend and strategic ally. Everyone in Israel greatly values the relationship and friendship with India,'' they told PTI. Israeli domestic politics is embroiled in a heated debate over judicial overhaul, a divisive issue that has also sharply split the population. The country faced large protests on the issue before the October 7 attack by Hamas two years ago, drawing hundreds of thousands of people to the streets every weekend for almost 10 months.

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