Israel Passes Law Protecting Prime Minister From Removal
The Israeli parliament on Thursday passed a law limiting the circumstances in which a prime minister could be removed from office.
Financial Times reports that the law, the first of several set to overhaul the judiciary, is believed to be intended to stop the Supreme Court or the Attorney General’s Office from influencing possible impeachment.
The amendment passed after an all-night debate that stretched into the early hours of Thursday, intensifies the bitter battle over a judicial overhaul pushed by Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government that has plunged Israel into its most profound political crisis for years.
Existing Israeli law allowed a prime minister to be removed, but did not spell out the circumstances in which this could occur.
The new rules specify that a prime minister can be removed only on grounds of mental or physical ill health and that only the cabinet or parliament have the right to do so.