High Court nixes petition against president’s tapping of Netanyahu to form gov’t

The High Court of Justice has rejected a petition seeking to prevent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption charges, from forming the next government.

The petition was submitted by the “Democratic Fortress,” a group of 70 academics, ex-security officials and other anti-Netanyahu activists. They had called on the court to disqualify President Reuven Rivlin’s decision to tap Netanyahu to form the next government, even though he received more recommendations for doing so than any other lawmaker, because he is under indictment.

In their decision, the three-judge panel explains that they did not identify any faults in Rivlin’s decision-making process. Moreover, they note that room for judicial review over the matter is limited, especially because the judges have already ruled in Netanyahu’s favor on similar petitions, deeming that so long as he has not been convicted existing law does not allow for the court to disqualify him.