Live UpdateFrom the Liveblog of Thursday, January 26, 2023

High Court declines to consider petition calling for disqualification of Netanyahu as PM

26 January 2023, 2:03 pm Edit

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives at a press conference at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, January 25, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives at a press conference at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, January 25, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The High Court of Justice rejects a petition filed by a democracy watchdog that called on it to declare Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unfit to hold office.

The justices unsurprisingly decline to consider the petition, on the grounds that “other procedures have not been exhausted” on the issue.

The Israeli Democracy Guard had sought to have the High Court disqualify Netanyahu from holding office due to his ongoing criminal trial, his conflict of interest and his actions to promote a “regime coup d’etat.”