Yair Lapid, Binyamin Netanyahu
Yair Lapid, Binyamin NetanyahuMarc Israel Sellem/POOL/Flash 90

The Yesh Atid party filed a petition against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday, in the hopes of wresting control of a number of ministries away from Israel's leader.

The petition follows a High Court hearing held on Tuesday, where Judge Hanan Meltzer asserted Basic Law: The Government prevents a prime minister from serving as head of any other governmental office. 

Netanyahu, in addition to being Prime Minister, controls Israel's Foreign, Health and Communications Ministries. 

Apparently, Maariv reported, the High Court judges recommended that the Yesh Atid faction, which had brought a petition calling for Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman's dismissal (United Torah Judaism), change course and direct their suit against Netanyahu. 

Yesh Atid now seeks to remove Netanyahu from all of his ministerial positions, by claiming Basic Law: The Government forbids a prime minister from serving, in addition to his/her role of prime minister, as a minister, or, barring the full title, managing a ministerial office.

By law, a prime minister can only serve as a minister if one resigns, dies, or is unable to serve. 

According to Meltzer, Netanyahu's latest government could have made changes to the Basic Law prior to its inauguration, but this change was never implemented, rendering Netanyahu's control of two ministries illegal. 

Yesh Atid will also continue its suit against Litzman, who, the party argues, must be named a full-fledged minister with complete authority and responsibility for the Health Ministry.