Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit on Thursday green lighted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to form the next government despite significant misgivings regarding the bribery indictment pending against him.
A maximum expanded 11-panel bench of the High Court of Justice led by Chief Justice Esther Hayut will make the final decision next week following hearings on Sunday and Monday on that issue and on controversial changes to the Basic Laws that are part of the Likud-Blue and White coalition deal.
Mandelblit’s opinion to the High Court comes after Blue and White called on the High Court to let Netanyahu remain as prime minister due to the coronavirus crisis and to avoid unprecedented fourth elections. Mandelblit also said that despite major legal problems with other controversial aspects of the Likud-Blue and White coalition deal, the High Court should let the new government form and probe specifics afterwards if concrete problems present themselves. The bottom-line is that Mandelblit has plowed the way forward for Likud and Blue and White to form the next government with Netanyahu as prime minister and Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz as vice-prime minister, stamping out opposition from Yesh Atid and other opposition officials (all while holding his nose at the whole thing).
Both Mandelblit and the High Court have already rejected several petitions seeking to fire Netanyahu on a variety of grounds dating back to the indictment being issued on November 21, 2019.
Some of the several petitioning good government groups have been slightly more hopeful of winning over the court this time because this is the last crunch moment where the High Court can weigh in.
But Mandelblit’s siding with Netanyahu, even as he issued the indictment, is a heavy blow to their efforts.
Until now, the High Court had rejected most petitions as premature based on the idea that it was unknown whether Netanyahu would be tasked to form the next government.
With the deal between Netanyahu and Gantz, that issue moved from theoretical to imminent.
However, during one of the petitions, Mandelblit and the High Court did delve into aspects of the merits and gave strong hints that they would voice disapproval of Netanyahu for failing to step down voluntarily, while throwing up their hands that current Knesset law does not require forcing him out prior to conviction.
Even if Netanyahu is convicted in his trial that is due to start on May 24, the process could easily run between one to three years, depending on how quickly the Jerusalem District Court presses the case.
One other difference from prior petitions is that this time the Yesh Atid-Telem party petitioned against the coalition deal, including against the multiple changes the deal requires to the Basic Laws and the enormous number of ministries that will be created.
It is possible that Mandelblit and the High Court will allow Netanyahu to run, but could void one or more specific provisions of the Netanyahu-Gantz deal.
Still, had Mandelblit or the High Court wanted to take Netanyahu out of the political arena, their strongest chance of doing that would have been prior to the March 2 election when the Likud could have picked a new candidate.
Based on prior comments of Mandelblit’s office and the justices about their sensitivity to the public will during elections, it has been much less likely that either of them will seek to disqualify Netanyahu now that he also has Gantz’s support to avoid a fourth election.
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