Opposition Floods Knesset Committee With 14,500 Amendments to Stall Legal Advisors Bill
The Knesset Constitution Committee is engaged in marathon sessions over the Legal Advisors Bill, as the opposition has submitted approximately 14,500 amendments to delay the legislative process. After 10,000 amendments were collectively removed the previous evening, the committee continues to debate around 3,500 remaining proposals in detailed forums.
Within this bureaucratic complexity, coalition members MK Simcha Rothman and MK Avichai Boaron successfully advanced a joint amendment to remove the controversial clause regarding the subordination of ministry legal advisors from the bill. Rothman explained that this move does not upgrade the government’s decision to legislative status but maintains the current situation, effectively causing the law to remain silent on this issue.
Boaron aimed to sever the professional subordination of ministry legal advisors to the government’s Attorney General, responding to claims that legal advisors are paralyzed by fear of their superiors. However, Rothman’s tactical choice to keep the law silent preserves the existing legal framework based solely on a government decision. Deputy Attorney General Elazar Stern confirmed that removing the clause leaves the status quo intact, which angered opposition MK Gilad Kariv, who argued that such a significant change requires separate discussion.
This prolonged struggle in the Constitution Committee exemplifies a growing trend of using thousands of amendments as a tool to obstruct legislation. A recent example occurred weeks ago with the Communications Law, where the opposition submitted about 6,000 amendments, effectively paralyzing the committee’s work. Coalition members have expressed frustration with the usual parliamentary tools and have appealed to Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana for active intervention to prevent the bill’s stalling, but no effective response has been received.
These events highlight how the amendment phase, intended as a discussion tool, has turned into a bureaucratic war of attrition that cripples the Knesset. The opposition’s tactic of flooding committees with thousands of voting requests presents a formidable barrier to the coalition’s legislative agenda. Growing criticism within the coalition targets the Knesset Speaker for refraining from exercising extraordinary powers that could facilitate legislative progress, thereby enabling the opposition’s delay mechanisms to dominate the agenda.
