The center-left Blue and White party, the largest faction in the Israeli Knesset, is threatening to remove Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein (Likud) from his position if he refuses to convene a Knesset committee needed to rule on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s recent request for immunity from prosecution.

The threats by Blue and White to try to sack Edelstein as Speaker came after Kan Reshet Bet reported that Edelstein is planning to use his veto power to block a Knesset vote on Netanyahu’s immunity request.

On Wednesday, Netanyahu formally requested Knesset immunity to halt prosecution in the Case 1000, 2000, and 4000 investigations in which he faces charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust.

Any request for immunity must be ruled on by the Knesset’s House Committee before going to a vote in the full Knesset plenum. However, as no government was establishing in either the 22nd or 21st Knessets, the House Committee was not established for the current Knesset.

Edelstein has not committed to establishing a House Committee for the outgoing 22nd Knesset, however, and is reportedly planning to veto any effort to convene it for the purposes of ruling on Netanyahu’s immunity request.

The Knesset Speaker is reportedly planning to meet Blue and White MK Avi Nissenkorn to discuss the issue on Sunday.

During a caretaker government, limitations are placed on the ability of the Knesset to pass legislation. On the advice of the Knesset’s legal adviser, the Arrangements Committee, headed by Blue and White MK Avi Nissenkorn, voted to grant the Knesset Speaker veto power during the caretaker period.

While Yisrael Beytenu chief Avidgor Liberman has thus far refused to support Edelstein’s removal as Knesset Speaker, on Wednesday Liberman castigated Netanyahu’s decision to request immunity, and vowed to vote against the request.

Now it is clear beyond any doubt: the only thing that mattered to Netanyahu or that matters to him now is immunity. He thinks about it when he wakes up in the morning, he lives and breathes it during the day, and he goes to sleep with it.”