Israeli high court delays law shielding prime minister from forced recusal

JERUSALEM (Reuters): Israel’s supreme court on Wednesday delayed the implementation of an amendment to a basic law that would protect the prime minister from being forced to recuse himself if ordered to do so by the attorney general or the supreme court.

The court said the amendment would be postponed until the next term of the Israeli parliament, saying it was “clearly personal in nature” and constituted a misuse of the Knesset’s Constituent authority, a statement from the court said.

The law’s proponents say it was meant to safeguard any democratically elected leader from a wrongful ouster.

But judges in favor of the delay said the amendment was passed in order to serve the needs of a particular individual.

Political watchdog groups and an opposition party challenged the March 23 amendment to a quasi-constitutional “Basic Law” that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s own attorney general described as designed to preserve his tenure amid a long-running graft trial.

Israel’s Supreme Court on Monday struck down a highly disputed law passed by Netanyahu’s far right government that rolled back some of the high court’s power and had sparked months of nationwide protests.