The High Court of Justice lacked the authority to review the incapacitation law, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's legal team argued in a filing in advance of a hearing to delay the law's application next Thursday.
The court did not have the authority for the "precedent setting move" interpretation of delaying the application of the legislation until the next government because it is a basic law amendment, part of Israel's quasi-constitutional articles. The move would also trample over the votes of thousands of Israelis citizens, the Netanyahu lawyers contended, and would turn the court into a political player. The judiciary would be sanctioning the theoretical possibility of removing a sitting prime minister through the incapacitation procedure.
Petitioner Movement for Quality Government in Israel attacked the response by Netanyahu, saying that he had revealed that the law was personally motivated.
The Knesset submitted earlier Thursday a request to extend the due date for its own response. Knesset legal representative Yitzhak Beret said that while his office had endeavored to develop its reply by the due date, they needed more time because of the complex and sensitive nature of the hearing that touches on a Basic Law amendment.
MQG opposed the request, saying that with Shabbat and Yom Kippur immediately after, there wasn’t enough time for reviewing the submission. If the deadline was extended, the NGO requested that the petitioners also receive more time, until Wednesday morning.
Other respondents had agreed to the request, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's representative is still expected to submit an affidavit Thursday evening.
Petitioner Movement for Quality Government in Israel opposed the request, saying that with Shabbat Yom Kippur immediately after, there wasn't enough time for reviewing the submission. If the deadline was extended, the NGO requested that if the extension is granted, that the petitioners also receive more time, until Wednesday morning.
Along with the request for more time, Knesset meetings are reported to be scheduled to discuss the hearing on Thursday. Eleven Supreme Court justices will hear arguments on delaying the applicability of the incapacitation law to the next government.
The hearing is the second to be held on the law after the High Court heard petitions on August 3 calling to strike the law that called for the striking of the amendment that clarified that a prime minister could only be rendered unfit for duty through incapacitation procedures over medical issues.
AG slams amendment as meant to aid Netanyahu in his corruption trial
In her Monday opinion supporting the delayed application, Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara said that the amendment aimed to influence Netanyahu's ongoing corruption trial, protecting him from rumored activation of the incapacitation procedure.