Under Newly Passed Law, Netanyahu Safe From Recusal Order

Israel’s Knesset early on Thursday morning passed the Incapacitation Law, that hampers the Supreme Court’s ability to require the prime minister to take a leave of absence. The bill passed its second and third readings by a vote of 61-47, the minimum number required for passage, in a plenum session that lasted all night until 6 am on Thursday. The law states that a sitting prime minister can only be declared unfit and be forced to step down three-quarters of government ministers say that he or she must for physical or psychological reasons.

The bill, an amendment to Basic Law: The Government, was fast-tracked for passage, and is seen by the opposition as being created to prevent Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu from being ordered by the Supreme Court to take a leave of absence as the Knesset works to pass judicial reform legislation while Netanyahu is on trial for corruption.

The bill was introduced after a petition was filed to Attorney General Gali Baharv-Miara asking her to declare Netanyahu incapable of serving as prime minister due to a conflict-of-interest, that would prevent him from engaging in anything that can affect his ongoing corruption trial, such as the government’s proposed judicial reforms.