Lapid threatens Knesset boycott during Modi visit over Supreme Court snub
Yair Lapid warns he will boycott a special Knesset session during Indian PM Narendra Modi’s visit if Supreme Court President Isaac Amit is not invited
The leader of Israel’s opposition, Yair Lapid, has warned that his party will boycott a special session of the Knesset scheduled to coincide with the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, unless the President of the Supreme Court, Isaac Amit, is formally invited.
Addressing fellow lawmakers, Lapid said that any further public slight against the head of the judiciary would amount to “a profound embarrassment” for Israel’s parliament. “We do not want India to be embarrassed by us,” he added, warning that a boycott could result in a half-empty chamber greeting the leader of a nation of more than one billion people.
Tensions between the judiciary and the governing coalition led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have escalated since Isaac Amit’s election as President of the Supreme Court in January 2025. Justice Minister Yariv Levin has refused to recognize Amit’s authority and has openly pledged to boycott him.
As a result, the chief justice has been excluded from several official Knesset events, including sessions featuring speeches by foreign leaders.
At the opening of the winter parliamentary session last October, the Speaker of the Knesset, Amir Ohana, referred to Amit only as a “judge,” omitting his presidential title. The move sparked a public protest from Israel’s head of state, Isaac Herzog.
The opposition had previously boycotted a session commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Knesset building over the same issue. Lapid now appears intent on turning the controversy into a broader symbol of the struggle to defend the separation of powers and the institutional balance within Israel’s political system.