Israel Passes New Law Protecting PM From Removal as Protests Continue

More than 80 people were arrested at protests across Israel on Thursday, March 23, as the country passed a law protecting the prime minister from being declared unfit to rule, as Benjamin Netanyahu faces “legal troubles,” local news reported.

According to a statement on the Israeli Parliament’s website, the bill stipulates that “the Prime Minister’s temporary incapacity to fill his post can only be declared due to physical or mental incapability, and will be declared by the Prime Minister in an announcement to the Government and to the Speaker of the Knesset, and with the approval of the House Committee, by a two-thirds majority of its members.”

Merav Michaeli, the leader of Israel’s opposition Labor Party, called the law “shameful and disgraceful” and said “the entire purpose is to prevent Netanyahu from being sent to prison.”

Footage posted to Twitter by user @TauDemocracy shows demonstrators marching, chanting, and waving Israeli flags in Tel Aviv on March 23. Credit: @TauDemocracy via Storyful