The Knesset passed a law on Thursday limiting the circumstances in which a prime minister can be removed, despite worries voiced by a government jurist that it may be meant to shield the incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu from any fallout from his corruption trials.
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The amended definition for the "incapacity" of national leaders is among legislative measures by the religious-nationalist coalition that have tipped Israel into crisis, with the opposition arguing that judicial independence is in peril.
The coalition says the overhaul is aimed at pushing back against Supreme Court overreach and restoring balance among branches of government. By a 61-to-47 final vote, the Knesset approved the bill under which prime ministers can be deemed unfit – and compelled to step aside – either if they or three-quarters of cabinet ministers declare them so on physical or psychological grounds.
The stipulations fleshed out a quasi-constitutional "basic law" that provides the government with guidance in the event of a non-functioning prime minister – but which previously lacked details on circumstances that may give rise to such situations. According to the non-partisan Israel Democracy Institute, the rule had earlier left Netanyahu vulnerable to a possible assertion of his incapacity by Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara, should she perceive an attempt by him to halt his three court cases.
The new law precludes this, IDI senior researcher Amir Fuchs said – while adding that he had considered such a finding by Baharav-Miara to be an unlikely "extreme case". Netanyahu denies all charges against him, and has cast the trials as a politicized bid to force him from office.
Baharav-Miara – who was appointed by the former, centrist Israeli government – said in February that Netanyahu must stay out of his coalition's push for a judicial overhaul because of what she deemed a conflict of interest arising from his trials.
Baharav-Miara's deputy, Gil Limon, voiced misgivings over the incapacity bill during a Knesset review session on Tuesday. "What we see before our eyes is a cluster of legislation elements that are most troubling and are being advanced at great speed," Limon said, according to an official transcript. "They have the potential to serve the personal interests of a man regarding the outcomes of legal proceedings he is facing."
On Thursday, protesters launched a fourth midweek day of demonstrations. They blocked major thoroughfares, set tires ablaze near an important seaport and draped a large Israeli flag and a banner with the country's Declaration of Independence over the walls of Jerusalem's Old City. Police said they made several arrests around the country. Shikma Bressler, one of the protest leaders, was among those arrested, organizers said.
Protests were planned later in the day in a large ultra-Orthodox city near Tel Aviv. The demonstration's organizers say it is meant to drive home to that community that their rights are in danger under the overhaul. Ultra-Orthodox leaders see the demonstration in their community as provocative.
The overhaul crisis has magnified a longstanding rift between secular Jewish Israelis and religious ones over how much of a role religion should play in their day-to-day lives. Ultra-Orthodox lawmakers in government are central drivers of the overhaul because they believe the courts are a threat to their traditional way of life. In contrast, secular opponents to the changes fear they will open the door to religious coercion.
In addition to Thursday's demonstrations, tens of thousands of people have been showing up for weekly protests each Saturday night for more than two months.
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