For the second time in less than a week, Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy on Sunday once again tried to establish a Knesset Ethics Committee despite the opposition’s decision not to cooperate with the move.
Levy issued new letters of appointment to the Ethics Committee to MK Osama Saadi (Joint List) and MK Michal Woldiger (Religious Zionism) as members of the committee and to MK Ofir Katz (Likud) as a fill in member.
Levy said, "I will continue to make every effort to staff and operate the Knesset Ethics Committee out of responsibility for the proper operation of the Knesset."
MK Katz was quick to tell Levy that he was not interested in the appointment and was giving it up, "as long as the coalition continues to run over the opposition", as he put it.
MK Woldiger similarly said she was not interested in the appointment.
"The establishment of the Ethics Committee at this time, while the coalition deliberately ignores what has been the practice in the Knesset so far, and while trampling on the opposition and conducting itself unfairly and disrespecting the rules of democracy, mean that I will not be able to accept the appointment," she said.
Saadi already turned down Levy’s invitation to participate in the Knesset Ethics Committee on Saturday.
"I rejected the proposal of the Speaker of the Knesset to appoint me to the Ethics Committee. I do not want to be a tool in a political fight between the coalition and the opposition," he said.
Levy last week unilaterally established the Knesset Ethics Committee and appointed members from the coalition and the opposition to be a part of it, after failing to reach an agreement with the opposition on the formation of the committee.
Soon after that move, MK Yaakov Margi of Shas and MK Gila Gamliel of the Likud both said they would not be part of the Ethics Committee.
MK Simcha Rothman (Religious Zionism) attacked the Knesset Speaker's conduct and said, "There is nothing ethical about the bullying behavior of the coalition and the Speaker of the Knesset. If a real Ethics Committee had been set up, this would have been the first issue it was supposed to deal with."