A law that would make it harder to remove Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from office must go into effect only after the next parliamentary elections, the country’s Supreme Court ruled Wednesday, saying the legislation was clearly crafted for personal reasons.
Quick Read
- Supreme Court’s Ruling on Netanyahu Law: Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that a law designed to shield Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from being deemed unfit to rule should only come into effect after the next parliamentary elections. The court noted the legislation seemed personally motivated.
- Context of the Legislation: The law, part of the government’s controversial legal overhaul, was seen as a way to protect Netanyahu from conflict of interest claims due to his ongoing corruption trial while attempting to reform the justice system.
- Chief Justice’s Remarks: Outgoing Chief Justice Esther Hayut emphasized that the legislation’s timing and application to the current prime minister indicated it was crafted for personal reasons.
- Impact of the Ruling: The ruling doesn’t completely nullify the law but delays its implementation, leaving Netanyahu theoretically vulnerable to being declared unfit to serve until the next elections, expected in 2026. However, the attorney general has not indicated any intention to declare Netanyahu unfit.
- Public Reaction and Legal Divisions: The decision highlights the deep societal divisions over the legal overhaul. Critics of the overhaul view the Supreme Court as defending Israel’s democratic principles, while supporters see it as an impediment.
- Response from Advocacy Group: The Movement for Quality Government in Israel praised the ruling, stating that a prime minister on trial cannot shield himself from legal scrutiny.
- Background of Legal Overhaul and National Unity: The legal changes proposed by Netanyahu’s government, which critics claim threaten Israel’s checks and balances, have caused significant rifts, although national unity has been partially restored following attacks by Hamas.
- Details of the “Incapacitation Law”: The amended law, passed by Netanyahu’s coalition, limits the declaration of a prime minister’s unfitness to rule to medical or mental health reasons and gives the determination power solely to the prime minister or the government.
- Attorney General’s Position: The attorney general has accused Netanyahu of violating a conflict of interest agreement by handling legal reforms while on trial for corruption, but there has been no move to declare him unfit.
- Netanyahu’s Legal Challenges: Netanyahu is facing fraud, breach of trust, and bribery charges in three separate cases, all of which he denies.
- Uncertain Future of Legal Reforms: It remains unclear how Netanyahu’s government will proceed with the legal overhaul amidst the ongoing conflict and the recent court rulings.
The Associated Press has the story:
Israel’s Supreme Court delays activation of law that makes it harder to remove Netanyahu from office
Newslooks- JERUSALEM (AP)
A law that would make it harder to remove Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from office must go into effect only after the next parliamentary elections, the country’s Supreme Court ruled Wednesday, saying the legislation was clearly crafted for personal reasons.
Israeli legislators passed the law last year as part of the government’s contentious legal overhaul plan, which sparked widespread opposition and tore open deep divisions in society. Critics said the law was designed to protect Netanyahu from being deemed unfit to rule over claims of a conflict of interest. He had been working to reshape the justice system while on trial for alleged corruption.
“The personal affairs of the sitting prime minister were not just the motive for legislating the amendment but also the dominant justification for its legislation at the time it was enacted,” wrote outgoing Chief Justice Esther Hayut. “The amendment’s promoters wanted the amendment to enter into force immediately and that it apply to the sitting prime minister.”
The next parliamentary elections are expected in 2026 but could be held before then, meaning Netanyahu is in theory exposed until then to being deemed unfit to serve. However, Israel’s attorney general, who historically has had the authority to make that call, hasn’t publicly indicated she would.
While the court did not outright strike down the law, the ruling in a 6-5 vote deepens a divide that lingers between overhaul supporters and those who view the court as a bulwark defending Israel’s democratic fundamentals.
The Movement for Quality Government in Israel, an advocacy group that petitioned againt the law, welcomed the ruling and said the prime minister “cannot create a golden cage for himself” while he is on trial.
“The court in its decision restored the logic that disappeared when this despicable law was enacted,” said the group’s chairman, Eliad Shraga.
The ruling comes days after the court overturned the first major piece of the overhaul in a blow to Netanyahu’s government. The government has said the legal changes were meant to restore power to elected officials, but critics said they would upend Israel’s delicate system of checks and balances.
Israelis have found some unity after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks and the war they sparked, but the rift over the legal overhaul still looms.
Netanyahu’s governing coalition — Israel’s most religious and nationalist ever — last year passed the amendment known as the “incapacitation law,” which allows a prime minister to be deemed unfit to rule only for medical or mental health reasons. Under the amendment, only the prime minister or the government has the power to determine a leader’s unfitness.
The previous version of the law was vague about the circumstances in which a prime minister could be deemed unfit, as well as who had the authority to declare it. But experts said the amendment expressly stripped the attorney general of the ability to do so.
The attorney general claims Netanyahu violated a conflict of interest agreement by dealing with the legal overhaul while on trial for corruption charges. He faces charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate cases. He denies wrongdoing.
His government was pressing ahead with the legal overhaul when Hamas struck in October, killing 1,200 people and taking 240 people hostage.
It’s not clear what the government plans for the legal changes now that the country is at war.
