The Ministerial Committee for Legislation was expected to give its approval Sunday to a pair of bills that would enable lawmakers to halt Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ongoing criminal trial, and make it harder for his leading opponent to run in the next election.

Approval by the committee would lend official government support to the bills, both of which are likely to face significant pushback due to concerns over their potential damage to the rule of law and the democratic process.

The first piece of legislation, which consists of just one operative sentence, would enable lawmakers to delay the trial of a prime minister or cabinet minister at any time after an indictment and before a final ruling.

It allows the Knesset House Committee to “stay the legal proceedings against the prime minister or a government minister” following an indictment “if it deems it necessary,” without specifying what, if any, criteria would be used to judge such a necessity.

According to Hebrew media reports, the legislation sponsored by Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech enjoys the support of Justice Minister Yariv Levin and will gain the ministerial panel’s approval. Levin has also recently stated that he would support legislation that would enable the defense minister to reduce or limit the number of hearings in Netanyahu’s trial.

Allowing the Knesset to freeze legal proceedings against senior officials would create a two-tiered justice system, warned Blue and White party chairman Benny Gantz.

“Giving a political body a license to stop a trial is the path to a country with one law for the ‘masters’ and another for the ‘subjects,'” Gantz said in a video message. “What do you think — that our citizens don’t understand what you’re doing? You don’t want to fix the judicial system; you want to tame it for your own needs. That will not happen.”

The Attorney General’s Office also savaged Har-Melech’s proposal on Sunday afternoon, calling it “unconstitutional” and asserting that it would severely harm the principle of equality before the law, and the independence of the legal and law enforcement systems.

“The bill allows political considerations to gain a foothold in the criminal process, while seriously harming the integrity of the criminal process, the principle of........

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