MK Yair Lapid, No. 2 on the Blue and White list, wrote a Facebook post on Tuesday titled, "As of March 17, 2020, you are not living in democracy."
"Citizens of Israel, it may not really interest you with all this corona in the air, but you do not currently live in a democracy. The judiciary was closed four days ago, in an order given one night, without anyone knowing about it. The legislature closed today, in an illegal manner," Lapid argued.
"The previous Knesset Speaker, who was not elected, closed the Knesset. Before that, he refused the request of the majority of MKs - 62 in number - to elect a new chairman in his stead. He also refused to elect Knesset committees to help combat the plague. Among them, the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, which will ensure that there is no illegal surveillance; the finance committee to assist people who have been laid off and small businesses, and a special corona committee to deal with the many civilians affected by the epidemic and the amazing medical teams who are being crushed under the load," he said.
Lapid accused Prime Minister Netanyahu of mishandling the coronavirus crisis. "All this happened without authority, without choice, without anyone asking you. This year, as mentioned, is 2020. There is no problem in convening the Knesset through video. No problem voting through an app. Many of us work like this now. Technology exists. The only reason is he does not want to be monitored because he knows he is making serious, fatal mistakes, even on the medical level and especially on the economic level,"
Lapid emphasized, "Right now, the only institution operating in the country is an unelected transition government, with a prime minister who lost the election. Because he doesn't have a majority in the Knesset - he shut down the Knesset. Because he had to stand trial - he closed the court."
"The coronavirus is an unprecedented epidemic. It requires unprecedented steps. But it also begs the question - Who are we? What country is this? The unelected Israeli government told us today that there are no more authorities but it also told us that we should not leave the house. If you want to appeal the decision, or even ask someone to review it - you have no one to ask. At this moment, Binyamin Netanyahu and Yuli Edelstein have closed "Israeli democracy," Lapid concluded.