High Court throws out petitions demanding Netanyahu resign over corruption cases

The High Court of Justice throws out two petitions demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resign over his looming indictment in three corruption cases.

Justice Yosef Elron says there is no need to issue a legal ruling on the question of Netanyahu’s legal right to serve as premier because it would have no practical meaning. A prime minister’s resignation triggers either the appointment of a new premier by the Knesset or a general election, during which time the outgoing PM remains in the post in an interim capacity. The Knesset has already voted to go to new elections, and so Netanyahu is already serving as an interim prime minister until the March 2 vote, a fact that would not be changed if he were ordered to resign.

One of the petitions, filed by the anti-corruption advocacy group Movement for Quality Government, also asked that Netanyahu be ordered to resign his other cabinet posts, based on the decades-old practice that sees cabinet ministers other than the PM step down when they face criminal indictment.

Netanyahu told the High Court this morning he would resign his other posts by the end of the month, Elron notes, so that question, too, does not require the court’s attention.