Temporary injunction against Netanyahu impeachment law
Israel’s High Court of Justice on Sunday issued a temporary injunction against the Knesset’s “Recusal Law”, which restricts the ways in which a sitting prime minister can be removed from office.
Esther Hayut, Chief Justice of Israel’s Supreme Court (centre) at the Supreme Court on Feb 5, 2020. Photo by Yehonatan Valtser/TPS
A panel of three justices on Thursday, including Court President Justice Esther Hayut heard arguments in a marathon hearing for and against the law, which was passed by the Knesset in March.
The three justices also expanded their panel to 11 and ordered the government to explain why this law could not be postponed.
The law, also sometimes referred to as the “Impeachment Law,” was passed as a Basic Law, which gives the law a quasi-constitutional status.
The Impeachment Law prevents the Supreme Court from ordering a prime minister to take a leave of absence. Under the new law, a prime minister can be declared unfit for office only for health reasons, and only by a three-quarter majority vote of Cabinet ministers or a three-quarter majority Knesset vote.
The amendment’s explanatory notes state that declaring a prime minister unfit while he is physically and mentally able to fulfil his duties annuls the election results and the democratic process.
To date, the Israeli High Court has never overturned a Basic Law.
During Thursday’s hearing, the three justices suggested that the law appeared to have been tailored to specifically protect Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is in the middle of a trial for fraud, bribery and breach of trust stemming from three separate investigations.
The petitions against the law were filed by The Movement for Quality Government in Israel and the opposition party Israel Beiteinu.
Supporters of the amendment argue that the possibility of unelected judges ordering a prime minister to recuse himself over conflicts of interest is anti-democratic.
The last Israeli prime minister removed from office for medical reasons was Ariel Sharon. Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert became temporary Prime Minister after Sharon, then 78, suffered a massive stroke on Jan. 4, 2006. The Israeli Cabinet declared Sharon permanently incapacitated on April 11. Sharon remained in a permanent vegetative state until his death in 2014.
Olmert stepped down from the office in 2008 ahead of his own indictment for corruption. He was later convicted and served two-thirds of a 27-month prison sentence.
The Impeachment Law is part of a government initiative to overhaul the judicial system which has deeply divided Israelis.
Legislation advancing through the Knesset would primarily alter the way judges are appointed and removed, give the Knesset the ability to override certain High Court rulings and change the way legal advisors are appointed to government ministries. On July 24, the Knesset passed the “Reasonableness Law” restricting the way judges can apply the reasonableness standard.
