Supreme Court
Supreme CourtYehonatan Weltzer/TPS

The Supreme Court will on Sunday morning begin hearings on the petitions that were filed against the transfer of the mandate to assemble the government to Binyamin Netanyahu.

The petitions deal with the question of a Prime Minister serving under indictment for offenses of moral turpitude, as well as the coalition agreement signed between the Blue and White and Likud parties.

A petition filed by the Hozeh Hadash (New Contract) and Mishmar HaDemocratia (Democracy's Guard) NGOs demands that President Reuven Rivlin be prevented from tasking Netanyahu with forming the government.

The Yesh Atid-Telem party and the Movement for Quality Government are demanding in a separate petition that the coalition agreement between the Likud and Blue and White be abolished, claiming it undermines the fundamental principles in the Israeli form of government.

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit recently wrote in his response to the Supreme Court that there is no legal impediment to impose Netanyahu with the task of forming the government, despite the indictment filed against him. He also argued that the coalition agreement should not be disqualified, despite the difficulties in it.

Given the pressing political schedule, the ruling is likely to be handed down within a short time period. On Thursday, the mandate given to the Knesset to form the government is set to expire. This means that if President Rivlin does not receive a request for the mandate signed by 61 MKs, Israel will go to a fourth election.