Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit issued a legal opinion on Monday which amounts to deflecting all three ways that critics have sought to force Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu out of office in any immediate timeframe. Mandelblit issued the blockbuster opinion only days after issuing a final indictment for Netanyahu for bribery and other issues last Thursday. First, Mandelblit said that the fact that Netanyahu is a transitional prime minister without a Knesset has no bearing on forcing him out immediately. He cited the Knesset law which says that if a government is forced to be dissolved then the prime minister at time remains the caretaker prime minister. In other words, if Netanyahu was forced out, he would be the caretaker for himself. Second, he ruled that Netanyahu cannot be declared incompetent to carry out his duties merely by the legal establishment as a result of an indictment. Rather, he said this is a political-public sector question. Third, he said he would not rule on whether Netanyahu can be disqualified from forming a new government since the question is hypothetical with no government expected to be formed by Netanyahu in the near future. All of these issues could arrive at the High Court of Justice, but Mandelblit’s view will hold significant weight.
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