Knesset legal adviser Sagit Afik lambasted Knesset Finance Committee Chair Hanoch Milwidsky for his conduct during a meeting on Sunday, in which he insulted and interrupted the committee’s legal adviser, Shlomit Erlich, prevented her from speaking, and then held votes on several budget transfers without a discussion in the absence of opposition figures.

In a strongly worded letter addressed to Milwidsky that evening, Afik accused the committee chair of preventing Erlich from speaking and insulting her, referring to her as “shameful,” mocking her so-called legal advice, and accusing her of “disrupting and delaying” him for hours.

Erlich, a legal adviser at the Knesset for 18 years and legal adviser to the Finance Committee for five years, has participated in “all committee discussions for long hours into the night while providing objective, pertinent, and professional legal advice, which, it would appear, you no longer find necessary,” Afik wrote.

During Monday’s meeting, as Erlich attempted to explain to committee members that they could not vote on a procedure without first holding a discussion and providing the legally required explanation for budget transfers, Milwidsky repeatedly interrupted her, yelled with visible anger, slammed his hands on the desk, and aggressively threw his arms in the air. His repeated outbursts ultimately prompted Erlich to jump out of her chair and leave the room.

Despite her absence and the absence of opposition members, who had left in protest earlier in the session, the remaining committee members — all coalition lawmakers — voted to make several budget transfers, including the controversial diversion of over NIS 220 million ($68.5 million) from a program meant to boost Arab economic development to the police to combat “severe nationalistic crime” in the Arab community.

The transfer is especially contentious because it is being pushed by Social Equality Minister May Golan, who is being investigated by........

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