The High Court of Justice on Monday gave Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit until next Wednesday, December 18, 2019, to respond, providing the court with his legal opinion regarding the status of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu if and after he is indicted, will he be permitted to form a coalition government.

A total of 67 members of the academic and high-tech communities along with former military officers who served in the IDF filed a petition with the High Court of Justice seeking to hear Mandelblit’s opinion regarding the following.

The court instructed the attorney general to respond to two questions.
1) Does the attorney general believe at this time that he should publicize his legal opinion regarding if PM Netanyahu is indicted, does he have the right to attempt to form the next coalition government?
2) Does the attorney general feel the High Court of Justice should be accepting a petition on this matter at this time?

The petitioners explain that the voting public has the right to know what the status will be regarding criminal indictments and the prime minister as the nation appears to once again be heading to Knesset elections.

Persons close to the attorney general are quoted by News12 explaining that any opinion publicized now, regardless of what side the opinion favors, will impact elections and this is why this is not the time for releasing legal opinion papers.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)