Israel's Supreme Court Delays Enactment of Law Protecting Netanyahu

The Incapacitation Law, designed to make it harder to remove a prime minister from office, will only go into effect after the next parliamentary elections.

Israel's Supreme Court has delayed the enactment of a new law that makes it harder to remove a prime minister from office. The law will only go into effect after the next parliamentary elections.
The law, known as the Incapacitation Law, was passed last year as part of the government’s contentious legal overhaul plan. Critics argue it was designed to protect Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from being deemed unfit to rule over claims of a conflict of interest.
The law allows a prime minister to be deemed unfit to rule only for medical or mental health reasons. Under the amendment, only the prime minister or the government has the power to determine a leader’s unfitness.
The previous version of the law was vague about the circumstances in which a prime minister could be deemed unfit, as well as who had the authority to declare it. The amendment expressly stripped the attorney general of the ability to do so.
The ruling deepens a divide between supporters of the legal overhaul and those who view the court as a bulwark defending Israel’s democratic fundamentals.