Israel’s Supreme Court postpones law to make impeachment more difficult Shipping giant Maersk indefinitely suspends travel to the Red Sea

A change in the law that makes it more difficult to remove a head of government in Israel will not come into effect until the next legislative session. The Supreme Court in Jerusalem decided this in a ruling published on Wednesday.

Six of the eleven judges were in favor of such a postponement. The justification for this was that the law was clearly tailored to a specific person. Parliament therefore abused its authority by approving the change in the law.

In March it was decided that a three-quarters majority would be needed to remove a prime minister from office. The change was particularly controversial because it was seen as personally tailored to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his needs.

He is accused of trying to protect himself from impeachment. A corruption trial against the 74-year-old has been ongoing for some time. The opposition condemned the new law as “indecent and corrupt”.

Under the change in law, a prime minister could only be removed from office for mental or other health reasons. This was intended to prevent the Supreme Court or the Attorney General from exerting influence.

In a dramatic decision on Monday, the Supreme Court overturned a core element of Israel’s controversial judicial reform. The essence of the rejected law change was that the Supreme Court was deprived of the ability to take action against ‘inappropriate’ decisions by the government, the prime minister or individual ministers.

Critics had warned that this could encourage corruption and the arbitrary appointment of key posts.

(hah/sda/dpa)