Tel Aviv, 4 January 2024 (dpa/MIA) - A legal amendment that makes it more difficult to remove a prime minister from office in Israel will not come into force until the next legislative period, the country's Supreme Court said in a judgement published on Wednesday.

"The Supreme Court held, by majority [six out of 11 justices], that the applicability of Amendment no. 12 to Basic Law: The government – regarding the grounds for declaring the incapacity of a prime minister – will be postponed until the next Knesset [the 26th Knesset]," the court said later in a post on the social media platform X.

It found the law was clearly tailored to a specific person, and that parliament had abused its authority by approving the amendment.

Parliament decided in March that a three-quarter majority would be required to remove a prime minister from office in future, a highly controversial amendment as it is widely seen as being personally tailored to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

He is accused of wanting to protect himself from impeachment. A corruption trial of the 74-year-old has been ongoing for months, and the opposition had condemned the new law as "indecent and corrupt."

Under the amended law, a prime minister could only be removed from office on mental or other health grounds, to prevent the Supreme Court or the Attorney General's Office from exerting influence.

The latest decision comes after the Supreme Court overturned a core element of the controversial judicial reform in Israel in a dramatic decision on Monday.

The amendment to the law that was overturned was essentially about the Supreme Court being deprived of the opportunity to take action against "inappropriate" decisions by the government, the prime minister or individual ministers.

Critics warned this could encourage corruption and the arbitrary appointment of important posts.

Photo: MIA archive