Photo Credit: Tomer Neuberg / TPS
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Thursday that he will be quitting all of his ministerial duties by January 1 but will remain prime minister.
Besides his role as prime minister, Netanyahu serves as the health minister, social welfare minister, Diaspora minister and agricultural minister. He will give up all of these positions in the coming weeks, appointing other political figures instead.
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Netanyahu made the announcement in response to a petition by the Movement for Quality Government (MQG) to the High Court of Justice, demanding he resign after he was indicted with bribery, fraud, and breach of trust.
Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit said that despite the charges against Netanyahu, the prime minister has no legal obligation to resign. However, Mandelblit did intimate that based on a previous High Court ruling, Netanyahu will have to resign from his other ministerial positions.
Following the prime minister’s announcement that he will voluntarily quit his other roles, Mandelblit told the High Court on Thursday that his legal opinion on the matter is no longer needed.
The Court then rejected MQG’s petition and ordered them to pay NIS 3,000 in court expenses.
After rejecting the petition, Judge Yosef Elron said that “in light of the upcoming new elections, the outcome of which is unknown, a court ruling on the issues raised by the petition is unnecessary.”
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