Deputy AG: Bill to limit grounds for removing PM would create ‘legal black hole’

26 February 2023, 2:16 pm

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Deputy Attorney General Gil Limon (center) speaks at a meeting of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee on January 16, 2023. (Dani Shem-Tov/Knesset)

Deputy Attorney General Gil Limon issues an official opinion against the government’s plan to pass a law that would severely limit the grounds for disqualification of a serving prime minister.

Such a move, Limon writes, would create a “legal black hole,” which would not allow any judicial review.

A Likud bill submitted last week says that only the prime minister or the cabinet, with a 75 percent majority, can declare a prime minister unfit for office — and then only for reasons pertaining to their mental or physical health.

The legislation was submitted after rumors swirled that the attorney general was considering declaring Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unfit for office — an idea she swiftly denied.