Days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz reached a last-minute deal to form a unity government, three different groups filed petitions with the High Court of Justice on Tuesday in an attempt to bar Netanyahu from serving as prime minister.
The main issue the petitioners raised was the fact that Netanyahu is currently under indictment for a number of serious criminal charges, some of which would carry moral turpitude upon conviction.
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Unlike previous High Court petitions that sought to keep Netanyahu out of the Prime Minister's Office that were rejected on technical grounds because they were filed too early, this time High Court Justice Isaac Amit has asked Netanyahu, Gantz, Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit, and the Likud and Blue and White factions to respond to the petitions by this Thursday, April 23.
The first petition was filed by a group of 123 high-tech workers and employees of the security sector and demands, among other things, that the deal struck between Netanyahu and Gantz be canceled.
Another petition, filed by the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, argues that because Netanyahu is a former MK, the same law applies to him that applies to any MK, which would mean he is disqualified from forming a government because of the indictments against him.
The third petition was filed jointly by the anti-corruption watchdog groups Hozeh Hadash (New Contract) and Mishmar HaDemocratia (Democracy's Guard), which are demanding that President Reuven Rivlin refrain from appointing Netanyahu as the designated prime minister once the Knesset nominates him for a fifth term, as has been agreed in the unity deal.
