Israel's Supreme Court began deliberations on Tuesday on whether an indicted parliament member can form a new government, hearing a petition that could potentially abruptly end Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's political career after the March 2 elections.
If the court decides Netanyahu cannot form a government, it could precipitate a constitutional crisis in Israel, and exacerbate the already tenuous ties between the Israeli government and the judiciary.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
The hearing followed a petition filed by 67 academics, security officials, and cultural figures arguing that even though Israeli law allows a prime minister to continue serving in his position until proven guilty in court – and even until all appeals are exhausted – the same law should not permit a candidate under indictment to be tasked with forming a government and becoming prime minister.
The court did not hand down an immediate ruling and gave no indication on whether it would deliberate it further or reject it outright. Given the sensitivity, It may ask for a full panel of 13 judges to convene on the matter. Either way, it was wading into uncharted territory.
Israeli law requires cabinet ministers and mayors to resign if indicted but does not specify so for a sitting prime minister. There are no restrictions on Netanyahu to run in the March 2 election – the third in less than a year – but good governance groups are appealing on whether he could be tasked with forming a new government if he emerges victorious.
"We claimed that the head of the executive authority can't be a person who is in a conflict of interest between his personal interests and the interests that we as the public need," argued Dafna Holtz-Lechner, the attorney leading the petition.
Given the shaky legal ground, the court could deem the scenario hypothetical and delay the case until the situation presents itself.
Avi Halevy, a lawyer for Netanyahu, called it a "political petition."
"Those deciding in the State of Israel and in a democracy who will serve as prime minister, according to any system, are the people and only the people," he said. "We, of course, hope it will be Benjamin Netanyahu."
Netanyahu submitted a letter to the court on Monday countering the basis of the petition, writing: "In a democracy, the people decide who leads them and no one else. Otherwise, it's not a democracy. This petition is an attempt to drag the court into an issue that is not under the court's jurisdiction. The respectable court has no authority in this matter, and the issue should not have been brought before it. It should have been left to the decision of the voters. For this reason alone, the petition must be rejected out of hand."
Netanyahu added that the law already specifies that a prime minister "can serve until convicted in a final ruling for transgressions that carry with them moral turpitude. … There is no reason to veer from this constitutional principle, outlined in the Basic Law and in an explicit law only because a specific prime minister is not liked by the petitioners."
Netanyahu is expected to ask the Knesset for immunity by midnight, Wednesday. If granted, it will shield him from any legal proceeding pending the future end of his term.
However, such petitions are usually discussed by the Knesset's House Committee which, in the absence of a government, does not exist.
Blue and White MK Avi Nissenkorn, who heads the Knesset's Arrangements Committee – a temporary forum that replaces the role of the House Committee in introducing legislation until a new government is formed – has begun the necessary preparations to discuss Netanyahu's immunity petition, saying that as the matter is of the utmost public importance, the Arrangements Committee must use its authority to form a House Committee during a transitional government.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu announced on Tuesday that he plans to relinquish three portfolios for which he has been an acting minister, namely the Labor and Welfare, Agriculture, and Diaspora Affairs ministries.
Another portfolio held by Netanyahu, Health, was handed over to United Torah Judaism leader Yakov Litzman, whose position was upgraded from deputy health minister to health minister.
