Amendments or Imprisonment: That’s Why Netanyahu Insists on Continuing His Coup Against the Judiciary

Daily protests, blockades of major roads, withdrawal of investments from major companies, and a refusal to serve in the military - this is how the scene in “Israel” has become since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition in the Knesset began making legal amendments aimed at absolving him of corruption charges in 2019.

The latest amendment was approved by the Knesset on March 14, 2023, in a first reading of a bill that prohibits the removal of a prime minister from office or declaring his inability to perform his duties. The bill was supported by a majority of 61 Knesset members, while 51 members opposed it out of a total of 120.

 

Getting Rid of Isolation

The bill prohibits the government’s attorney general from declaring the prime minister unable to perform his duties and removing him from office.

Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (a government agency) reported that Netanyahu’s coalition is seeking to quickly strengthen the law and present it for a second and third reading before it goes into effect during the upcoming sessions.

Netanyahu’s efforts to immunize himself from removal are part of his plan that the opposition in the occupying state calls “weakening the judiciary.”

The plan includes four pieces of legislation that concentrate the power of the judicial authority in the hands of the executive authority, which also controls the legislative authority due to its parliamentary majority.

The four pieces of legislation include: limiting judicial review of Knesset legislation, government control over judicial appointments, canceling the intervention of the Supreme Court in executive orders, and turning legal advisers in ministries into government-appointed officials instead of being appointed by the courts.

In November 2019, the prosecutor general of the Israeli Occupation charged Netanyahu with bribery, breach of trust, and fraud in cases 1000, 2000, and 4000.

Case 4000 stated that Netanyahu sought positive media coverage on the Hebrew Walla! site, owned by the chairman of the Bezeq telecommunications group, in exchange for government services and facilities that benefited the group with hundreds of millions of dollars.

As for Case 1000, it stated that Netanyahu and members of his family received bribes in the form of luxury gifts, such as cigars, champagne bottles, and jewelry worth one million shekels (280,000 dollars).

Case 2000 is related to the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, where Netanyahu tried to reach an agreement with the owner of the newspaper to get supportive coverage during his tenure as Prime Minister and Minister of Communications.

It is worth mentioning that the Israeli Occupation does not have an official constitution but is governed by a set of “Basic Laws” that regulate the division of powers and civil rights, and the Supreme Court is considered the first legal reference.

 

Preemptive Move

Israeli affairs expert Adel Yassin said that Netanyahu’s step is expected, as Article 16 of the Basic Law allows the Prime Minister to be impeached if he is unable to perform his duties and responsibilities for reasons beyond his control.

He added that “approving the law to prevent the impeachment of Netanyahu aims to deprive the Attorney General of using the law to impeach Netanyahu because of the corruption cases against him, which means that it is a preemptive move by the Likud camp and its allies.”

Yassin stressed that this step is part of the current conflict between the judiciary, which seeks to maintain its status and powers, and the executive authority, which seeks to control it and seize its powers and turn it into a subsidiary that obeys its vision and policy.

He continued: “The aim of the amendments is to impose complete control and domination over the judiciary and turn it into a puppet in the hands of the government, so that it can pass laws without objection or reservation, and then change the laws that limit its powers.

In turn, Israeli affairs expert Dr. Syed Basharat said that this law prevents declaring Netanyahu as a person incapable of serving as Prime Minister due to the judicial files that pursue him, so he is suspended from work for the duration of the trial. “If he is proven innocent, he will return to work, and if not, he will go to prison, which Netanyahu fears. He seeks to change the entire judicial system so that he can survive with a large package of laws that he has announced and will announce in the coming weeks,” he added.

Basharat confirmed that this package of laws would ultimately lead to limiting the Supreme Court, immunizing the Prime Minister from trial, allowing him to receive gifts, and granting him greater freedom of action. He explained that Netanyahu will not compromise, no matter how much pressure from the protests rises and no matter how many cases of military service exemption expand, despite his knowledge of the great harm that occurs daily to the Israeli Occupation, because retreating means that his next destination is prison. The Palestinian writer pointed out that “Israel,” in its current situation, is going through a period of internal weakness, and many in the occupation state see this crisis as an existential threat.

 

Palestinians Will Bear the Cost

Netanyahu’s partners in his governing coalition are pushing for extremist plans promised to their voters before the last elections. They are taking advantage of the crisis in the Israeli interior and Netanyahu’s inability to reject their requests. They plan to reap the benefits of their support for him in his crisis by implementing measures against Palestinians.

After the vote on the law weakening the judiciary, Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir announced on March 8 the formation of what he called a “volunteer battalion” of Jews in the occupied city of Lod in a plan to establish an armed militia to confront Palestinian residents.

Ben-Gvir had previously pledged to arm civilians and militarize settlers in the occupied territories, specifically in cities with a large Palestinian population, as well as in occupied Jerusalem and the West Bank.

In the same session in which they voted to shield Netanyahu from isolation, the Knesset approved a law that annuls the decision to separate from the Ganim, Kadim, Homesh, and Sa Nur settlements that were dismantled in 2005 as part of efforts to strengthen the settlement project of the Israeli Occupation in the northern West Bank.

The proposed law allows settlers to return to these four settlements and cancels the criminal punishment imposed on settlers who enter or reside in these four settlements located on Palestinian land, especially in the northern West Bank.

Israeli Finance Minister and Minister of Security, Bezalel Smotrich, revealed during a meeting with settler leaders in the occupied West Bank on February 6, 2023, Netanyahu’s government plan to establish a “settlement administration” that will work to legitimize the illegal settlement outposts and push forward the settlement project during the current government’s term.

He explained that the “settlement administration” will work to legitimize the settlement outposts, enhance their infrastructure, and seize more Palestinian land to serve these goals.

Palestinian researcher Zakaria al-Salalah said that Benny Gantz and Smotrich are the main beneficiaries of the weak position that Netanyahu finds himself in and their urgent need to stand with him in this critical crisis for him.

He told Al-Estiklal: “Gantz and other extremist partners of Netanyahu are seeking to invest in this opportunity to pass any law that serves their goals and allocate budgets to Jewish settlers. The Israeli Prime Minister will not be able to reject their demands. Otherwise he will not be able to complete his plan.”

He added that in parallel with the vote on laws that secure Netanyahu’s survival, the Knesset voted on amending the separation law, resettling the settlements in the northern West Bank, preventing their dismantling, and legalizing settlement outposts. Smotrich took advantage of the crisis in this way.

The researcher stressed that the increasing massacres by the Israeli Occupation in the West Bank with a green light from the Israeli government are one of the prices paid by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir from Benjamin Netanyahu, although these crimes ignite the Palestinian arena at a time the Israeli Occupation does not want because of its unprecedented internal crisis.

He pointed out that Ben-Gvir is now sponsoring the formation of armed militias in settlements in the West Bank, which organized the burning of Huwara in February 2023, where some Palestinians were killed.

He added: “Even inside the occupied territories, these militias are established openly and no one can hold them accountable, and Ben-Gvir is laying the groundwork for a new reality in the conflict and seizing this stage to achieve maximum benefit for his terrorist project against the Palestinian existence.”

The Palestinian expert explained that Ben-Gvir “is accumulating” extremist achievements that he hopes will enable him to forcefully impose himself in any upcoming elections and perhaps compete for the position of prime minister, as the language of terrorism has proven to be convincing to the Israeli voter.