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With two nominees having withdrawn their candidacies during the last week, the Knesset will hold a special session during the summer recess on the failure to find a new Governor of the Bank of Israel.

Labour Party MK Merav Michaeli submitted a motion for the session, which was signed by all opposition factions and included the requisite signatures to mandate that the Knesset meets to discuss the issue during the summer break which began last week. Michaeli’s request says “Every day that passes without a [Bank of Israel] governor harms Israel’s economy and makes a mockery of the State of Israel.”

The move comes after both Jacob Frenkel and then Leo Leiderman opted not to pursue their candidacies to head the bank, having accepting the nomination of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Yair Lapid. Frenkel accused the media of a smear campaign against him after revelations that he had failed to disclose to the Turkel Committee, which vets top public service appointments, that he had been detained at Hong Kong airport in 2006 over suspicions of shoplifting. Leiderman was subsequently nominated but withdrew his candidacy to avoid the “nightmare” of public and media scrutiny. As a result, there is no clear picture as to who will succeed Stanley Fischer who retired in June following an extremely successful tenure.

On this point, Michaeli commented, “The public has the right to know what the reasons were behind the finance minister’s agreeing with Netanyahu’s firm decision against Karnit Flug’s nomination.” Flug, who served as Fischer’s long-term deputy was recommended by Fischer to succeed him. However, Michaeli says that Netanyahu was “quoted as saying, ‘It will be anyone but her [Flug].’” Last week, Labour Party leader Shelly Yachimovich asked whether the reluctance to appoint Flug could be attributed to “Chauvinism? Arrogance? Lack of interest? Simply a puzzling form of decision-making?”