Israel passes law protecting netanyahu amid protests

Israel passes law protecting netanyahu amid protests

The law would protect him from being deemed unfit to rule because of his corruption trial; it is the first of the several legislations that make up the Prime Minister’s contentious judicial overhaul.

Israel’s Parliament on Thursday passed the first of several laws that make up its contentious judicial overhaul as protesters opposing the changes staged another day of demonstrations aimed at raising alarm over what they see as the country’s descent toward autocracy.

Thousands of people protested throughout the country, blocking traffic on main highways and scuffling with the police in unrest that shows no sign of abating, especially as the overhaul moves ahead.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition approved legislation that would protect the Israeli leader from being deemed unfit to rule because of his corruption trial and claims of a conflict of interest surrounding his involvement in the legal changes.

The legal changes have split the nation between those who see the new policies as stripping Israel of its democratic ideals and those who think the country has been overrun by a liberal judiciary. The government’s plan has plunged the nearly 75-year-old nation into one of its worst domestic crises.

“Either Israel will be a Jewish, democratic and progressive state or religious, totalitarian, failing, isolated and closed off. That’s where they are leading us,” Tzipi Livni, a former Foreign Minister and a prominent supporter of the protest movement, told Israeli Army Radio.

The opposition is rooted in broad swaths of society — including business leaders and top legal officials. Even the country’s military, seen as a beacon of stability by Israel’s Jewish majority, is enmeshed in the political conflict, as some reservists are refusing to show up for duty over the changes. Israel’s international allies have also expressed concern.

The law to protect Mr. Netanyahu passed in an early morning vote 61-47 in Israel’s 120-seat Knesset, or Parliament.

It stipulates that a Prime Minister can only be deemed unfit to rule for health or mental reasons and that only he or his government can make that decision. It comes after the country’s Attorney-General has faced growing calls by Mr. Netanyahu opponents to declare him unfit to rule over his legal problems. The attorney general has already barred Mr. Netanyahu from involvement in the legal overhaul, saying he is at risk of a conflict of interest because of his corruption trial.