The Knesset on Thursday morning approved the “Incapacitation Law”, which would prevent the Attorney General from declaring that a Prime Minister is unfit for office, in its second and third readings.
The law was approved by a majority of 61 supporters against 47 opponents.
The bill stipulates that a Prime Minister can only be declared unfit for office as a result of physical or mental inability to carry out his duties, and only by the Prime Minister himself or by the vote of three-quarters of the members of the Cabinet.
Should the Prime Minister object to putting the decision to the Cabinet, it would go to the Knesset, where at least 90 MKs would have to approve the move.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid blasted the approval of the law and wrote on his Twitter account, "Like thieves in the night, the coalition just now passed an obscene and corrupt personal law against an unfounded rumor about incapacitation. The citizens of Israel should know - just before the holidays, while the cost of living is skyrocketing - that once again Netanyahu only cares about himself."
The chairman of the Yisrael Beytenu Party, MK Avigdor Liberman, announced that his party would petition the Supreme Court against the law.
"The Yisrael Beytenu faction will submit a petition to the Supreme Court to invalidate the Incapacitation Law. We will not allow the State of Israel to become a monarchy of the Netanyahu family," Liberman wrote on his Twitter account.
Labor Party chairwoman MK Merav Michaeli tweeted, "The coalition just now passed the Incapacitation Law. A shameful and disgraceful law whose entire purpose is to prevent Netanyahu from being declared unfit for office. This is all the coalition and this government are doing, with the personal laws and the coup. They sacrifice the State of Israel in order to take care of themselves under a corrupt government. This is our second War of Independence and we must win it."