Mandelblit tells High Court ‘no legal impediment’ to Netanyahu serving as PM

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit tells the High Court of Justice he sees no legal impediment to have Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tasked with forming the government.

The court is set to issue a ruling on a petition on the matter next week.

A High Court decision passed in the 1990s bars ministers from serving if they are under criminal indictment, but the law and previous rulings say nothing about a prime minister. The petition urges judges to rule that an indicted politician cannot serve as prime minister.

Netanyahu is indicted in three corruption cases, including bribery in one of them.

Mandelblit also tells the court that despite “significant legal difficulties,” he also thinks the coalition agreement signed by Netanyahu and Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz should not be altered despite requiring far-reaching law changes, including to quasi-constitutional Basic Laws.