The Movement for Quality Government in Israel appealed to the High Court of Justice on Thursday to declare that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is incapacitated due to his conflicts of interest surrounding the government’s proposed judicial reforms.
The prime minister is currently standing trial on one count of bribery and three counts of fraud and breach of trust. According to the appeal, the court’s justification in a prior appeal for Netanyahu to serve as prime minister while on trial was that he would abide by a conflict-of-interest agreement that would bar him from dealing with issues that could affect his trial. The Attorney-General recently determined that the agreement still applied, yet Netanyahu is leading the reform of the judicial system regardless, the movement argued.
“Netanyahu has proven that he is unable to separate his legal affairs from the administration of the state, and is trying to collapse the democratic structure of the State of Israel even at the cost of the destruction of the Third Temple,” movement CEO lawyer Dr. Eliad Shraga said in a statement.
“The State of Israel deserves a prime minister who will serve it and not himself, and therefore it only makes sense that Netanyahu be declared incapacitated, before he manages to destroy the temple,” Shraga added.
With no Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice committee on Thursday, debates over the judicial reforms did not make headlines. However, the committee announced that it would begin to vote on the first part of the reform on Sunday, which includes clauses that give the coalition an automatic majority in the Judicial Appointments Committee, and bars the High Court from hearing appeals against Basic Laws. If the votes pass the committee, they will be voted on in the Knesset plenum for their first reading.
IDF reservists block highway in protest against judicial reform
A number of plans were reported regarding opposition to the reform ahead of its first vote on Sunday.
A group of 1,500 IDF combat reservists, who set out on Wednesday on a 50km. protest march from Latrun to Jerusalem titled “Brothers in Arms,” blocked the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway at least twice on Thursday. The first, near the exit to Neve Ilan, occurred at approximately 11 a.m. and only lasted five minutes. The second occurred at Hemed Interchange during rush hour, and caused heavy traffic jams.
The march included people who served in a wide array of units, as well as a number of retired high-ranking officers, including former Mossad head Tamir Pardo, Brig.-Gen. (res.) Matan Vilnai and Brig.-Gen. (res.) Tal Russo.
National Unity MK and former chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot joined the marchers during the day, calling them “patriots and lovers of the land,” adding that the march’s messages were positive – support for Israel’s “Jewish, democratic, strong and inclusive” character.
Another protest group, “Crime Minister”, intended to demonstrate outside of Netanyahu’s private residence on Aza Street on Thursday evening. However, the Israel Police only permitted them to demonstrate up the street and a few hundred meters away, at France Square, where protests were held against Netanyahu during his previous tenure as prime minister.
They accused the police of taking a side in the political debate, calling it a “transparent attempt to take the sting out of the protest.”
“Again, the Israel Police is behaving like a bully, taking a political side and trying to sabotage the protest. We will not surrender to directives that are meant to suck up to Ben-Gvir and look good in the eyes of the Netanyahu family,” the group added.
Channel 12 reported earlier on Thursday that protesters were also planning on demonstrating outside of the houses of four Likud MKs and ministers who they think oppose some parts of the reform. These are Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Economy Minister Nir Barkat and Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman MK Yuli Edelstein.
Finally, Yesh Atid announced on Thursday that it would use a provision in the Knesset’s protocol that requires a committee chair to hold a discussion on a specific topic if a third of the members of the committee request it in writing. The party plans to file such requests in every committee and thus force all of them to discuss the implications of the judicial reform.