Israeli Coalition Heads Blast High Court For Hearing Petition Calling For Netanyahu To Be Declared ‘Unfit For Office’

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — The leaders of the Netanyahu-led coalition sharply criticized the High Court of Justice  for hearing a petition seeking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be declared unfit for office, claiming that even deliberating such a possibility was akin to a military coup.

Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich termed this a “mega attack on democracy and a new nadir reached by the High Court.”

“This is an illegal attempt to oust a serving prime minister, which is no different than a military coup,” a statement from the coalition chiefs said, referring to the hearing. “No judicial authority, including the High Court, has even a shred of authority for such action. Only the nation will decide the prime minister and only the nation, through its representatives in the Knesset, will decide whether to end his tenure.”

“The nation and its representatives will never accept a judicial deliberation on the possibility of a coup,” it added.

The statement was issued in the name of all faction heads in Netanyahu’s coalition — which includes his Likud party, two ultra-Orthodox parties and three far-right parties — with the exception of the premier himself. Justice Minister Yariv Levin, the No. 2 in Likud, signed instead of Netanyahu.

On Friday, the court gave Netanyahu a month to respond to an appeal filed a day earlier by the Movement for Quality Government, which argues he is in breach of a conflict of interest arrangement prohibiting him from involvement in affairs that could affect his ongoing corruption trial. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara was also given until March 12 to present her position.

The group specifically cites legislation the government is pushing to drastically curb the High Court’s ability to strike down laws and give politicians full control over judicial picks, parts of which are scheduled to come up for an initial vote on Monday.

In response, the Movement for Quality Government criticized the coalition heads, claiming that ‘some of them are convicted criminals who don’t recognize the rule of law.”

Under the 2020 conflict of interest agreement, drawn up by then-attorney general Avichai Mandelblit, Netanyahu cannot be involved in any matters that affect witnesses or other defendants in the trial, or in legislation that would impact the legal proceedings against him.

He also cannot intervene in any issues related to the status of several top police and prosecution officials, in several fields under the responsibility of the Communications Ministry, or in the Judicial Appointments Committee, which appoints judges to the Jerusalem District Court — where his trial is being conducted — and to the Supreme Court, which would hear any appeals in the case.

In a media interview Thursday, Mandelblit charged that Netanyahu is trying to pass the legal reforms to to bring about a situation in which his trial does not come to an end in a proper manner. He also stressed that the judiciary “must remain independent” and warned that “someone will pay in blood for the reforms.”

In response, Knesset law committee chairman Simcha Rothman said that Mandelblit “should be behind bars” for his seditious statements.