The opposition says the law could protect incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu from the fallout from his corruption trials.
Israel has ratified a law limiting the circumstances in which a prime minister can be impeached, despite fears it is designed to protect incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu from the fallout from his corruption trials.
In a final vote of 61 to 47 on Thursday, the Knesset approved the bill, under which prime ministers can only be deemed unfit and forced to resign if the Knesset or three-quarters of cabinet ministers declare it to be on physical or psychological grounds.
The amended definition for the prime minister’s “incompetence” is one of several legislative measures proposed by the religious-nationalist coalition that have plunged Israel into crisis, with the opposition claiming that the independence of the judiciary is at risk and the coalition claims the proposals aim to push back against the Supreme Court’s excessive overreach and restore balance between the branches of government.
“Declaring the Prime Minister’s inability … against the will of the Prime Minister, while physically and mentally able to perform his duties, serves in practice as an annulment of the election results and the democratic process,” the statement reads on the proposed amendment to Israel’s quasi-constitutional “Basic Law”.
The provisions set out the basic law’s guidelines in the case of a non-functioning prime minister, who previously had no details of circumstances that could lead to such situations.
According to the nonpartisan Israel Democracy Institute, the rule could have resulted in Netanyahu potentially being declared incompetent by Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara should she oversee an attempt by him to drop the three lawsuits against him.
The new law rules this out, said IDI senior researcher Amir Fuchs, adding that he had considered such a finding by Bararav-Miara an unlikely “extreme case”.
Baharav-Miara — who was appointed by the former centrist Israeli government — said last month that Netanyahu should stay out of his coalition’s push for judicial changes because of what she viewed as a conflict of interest arising from his trials.
Baharav-Miara deputy Gil Limon expressed doubts about the disability law during a Knesset review session on Tuesday.
“What we see before our eyes is a cluster of legislative elements that are most disturbing and are being passed at a rapid pace,” Limon said, according to an official transcript.
“They have the potential to serve a man’s personal interests with respect to the outcome of legal proceedings he faces.”
Netanyahu denies all allegations against him and sees the trials as a politicized attempt to force him out of office.
Closure protests
Meanwhile, Israeli protesters have continued weekly demonstrations against the far-right government’s plan to weaken the independence of the judiciary, backing off against Netanyahu after he rejected a compromise proposal from President Isaac Herzog designed to defuse the crisis.
Thousands of Israelis geared up for a day of demonstrations dubbed the “national day of paralysis” on Thursday, with large crowds expected on the streets of major cities.
The protests are aimed at disrupting traffic on the main highways to Ben Gurion Airport in anticipation of a trip from Netanyahu to the UK. Last week, hundreds of protesters arrived at the airport in an attempt to disrupt Netanyahu’s departure for Germany.
Protests are also planned in the ultra-Orthodox suburb of Bnei Brak in Tel Aviv, where several members of the Knesset coalition live, according to Israeli media.
The Netanyahu government’s push to make sweeping changes to Israel’s courts has sparked domestic upheaval and alarm among the country’s Western allies.
If passed, the original proposal would mean giving the government more say in selecting judges and limiting the Supreme Court’s power to strike down legislation.