Substituting the Prime

(a) Should the Prime Minister be absent from the country, Minister (Amendment his substitute shall convene the Government meetings No. 12) and run them. (b) Should the Prime Minister be temporarily incapable of performing his duties, his position shall be performed by the Substitute Prime Minister. After the passage of 100 consecutive days on which the Substitute Prime Minister served in the place of the Prime Minister, and he did not return to perform his duties, he shall be considered to be incapable of performing his duties on a permanent basis. (b1) (1) The incapacity of the Prime Minister to perform his duties, as stated in clause (b), shall be due to physical or mental inability only, and shall be determined in one of the following situations only: (a) (1) Should the Prime Minster inform the Government and the Speaker of the Knesset that he is incapable of performing his duties temporarily due to physical or mental inability, and the House Committee confirmed his announcement by a majority of two thirds of its members. (2) Should the Prime Minister make a statement as mentioned in sub- clause (1), he is entitled to inform the Government and the Speaker of the Knesset of the continuation of the incapacity in the same notice, or in a separate notice. (3) The Speaker of the Knesset shall inform the Knesset of the Prime Minister’s notices in accordance with sub-paragraphs (1) and (2). (b) (1) Should the Government decide, by a majority of three quarters of its members, that the Prime Minister is temporarily incapable of performing his duties due to physical or mental inability; the Prime Minister shall convene the Government on this matter at the request of three fifths of the members of the Government within three days of the time that the request was made, or at a later date should it be requested in a request to do so. Should the government meeting fail to be convened at the time as stated, the Secretary of the Government shall convene the Government immediately, and the Substitute Prime Minister shall conduct the meeting, and clause (c) shall apply with the required changes. (2) Should the Government decide that the Prime Minister is temporarily incapable of performing his duties as stated in paragraph (1), the decision shall remain valid for three days and shall be brought for the approval of the House Committee. The House Committee shall approve the Government decision by a majority of two thirds of its members, and if the decision was taken due to health reasons, the decision of the House Committee shall be based also on a medical opinion, provided in accordance with rules determined by the House Committee. Should the House Committee approve the Government’s decision, it is entitled to decide that the incapacity shall not continue for over seven days from when the Committee’s decision was taken. (3) Should the Prime Minister fail to submit a medical opinion in accordance with the rules determined by the House Committee, he shall be considered to have announced his incapacity on the basis of sub-paragraph (a). The incapacity according to this paragraph shall not continue for more than seven days. (4) The prolongation of the incapacity beyond what is said in paragraphs (2) or (3) requires a Knesset decision, on the basis of a proposal of the House Committee, adopted by a majority of eighty Members of the Knesset. The Knesset shall be entitled to determine that the incapacity shall not continue for more than 21 days each time, as long as the total number of the periods shall not be above what is said in clause (b). (2) The House Committee is entitled to determine the end of the Prime Minister’s incapacity, that was decided in accordance with paragraph (1)(b)(2) or (4) by a decision of a majority of the members of the Committee, and if incapacity was determined for health reasons – on the basis of a medical opinion provided on the basis of rules determined by the Committee. The Chairperson of the House Committee shall inform the Knesset of the Committee’s decision. (3) The provisions of article 31 of Basic-Law: The Knesset, or in accordance with it shall not apply to dates laid down in this clause. (c) Should there be no substitute for the Prime Minister, or if the Substitute Prime Minster is unable to perform his duties on the basis of clauses (a) and (b), the Government shall designate another minister, who is a Member of the Knesset, to perform these duties.