Israel top court weighs rules on removing prime minister

OCCUPIED-AL-QUDS: Israel´s top court heard appeals on Thursday against a law restricting how a prime minister can be removed from office, as current premier Benjamin Netanyahu faces protests against the government´s judicial overhaul.

The hearing got underway as Israel is deeply divided over the judicial reforms, which have triggered one of the country´s biggest ever protest movements against the hard-right government.

Eleven of the Supreme Court´s 15 judges heard three appeals against the incapacity law that was passed in March as an amendment to one of Israel´s Basic Laws, the country´s quasi-constitution. Under the law, a prime minister can only be declared unfit for office by themself or a two-thirds majority of the cabinet, and the decision must be supported by at least 80 of parliament´s 120 lawmakers.

Supreme Court Judge Yitzhak Amit argued it amounts to a “personal” amendment intended to protect Netanyahu from impeachment proceedings. A lawyer representing the government, Yitzhak Bart, acknowledged the law was passed for “political reasons linked to the prime minister” but argued the move was to “fill a gap in the law”.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin declared the hearing “an attempt to overturn the elections, in a statement published by his office. Netanyahu in May 2020 became Israel´s first sitting prime minister to stand trial over a series of graft allegations, which he denies.