Israel’s Supreme Court strikes down a key law of Netanyahu’s controversial judicial reform

The Israeli Supreme Court announced today the annulment of a key law of the controversial judicial reform that the Government of Benjamin Netanyahu approved in July, and that took away the power of the court itself to review and revoke government decisions based on whether they were reasonable or not. .

The court, by a slim majority of eight of fifteen judges, reported the repeal of the legislation by holding that it “causes serious and unprecedented damage to the fundamental characteristics of Israel as a democratic state,” it said in a ruling made public this Monday. .

The court ruling is a blow to the reform plan of Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition, which according to detractors would undermine the division of powers and the independence of Justice in Israel, and which until the start of the war in Gaza led masses of Israelis to the street in a protest movement of historic dimension in the country.

The court also determined “that it has the power to make judicial review” of Basic Laws – with constitutional status in Israel – and “to intervene in those rare and exceptional cases in which the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) exceeds its constitutive authority.”

The war in Gaza

The sentence, which was made public while the country is immersed in the war in Gaza, is considered “historic” and “controversial” by the Israeli press, since it puts back on the table the issue of judicial reform, which caused much polarization between supporters and opponents and aggravated the already existing division in the country, which had now been pushed aside in the wake of the war effort against Hamas.

The Supreme Court’s decision is in response to eight appeals that had been presented by entities such as the Movement for Quality Government in Israel. This led to a hearing in September with the 15 court judges present to analyze the appeals against the law, which annulled the so-called “doctrine of reasonableness.”

Both the approval of the legislation itself in July and the day of the hearing in September generated large mobilizations in Israel in favor of the court’s intervention to repeal the measure.

The law gave more power to the Government

Those opposed to judicial reform complained that the law gave more power to the Executive to the detriment of Justice.

Members of the Government – the most right-wing in the history of Israel, also made up of far-right forces – warned at the time that a decision against the rule by the Supreme Court would put democracy in check, and threatened not to abide by the ruling.

The law in question was passed as an amendment to one of Israel’s Basic Laws, fundamental rules that govern the State, which since it was founded in 1948 has no constitution.

It is also the first time in the history of Israel that the Supreme Court has interceded before an amendment to a basic law. With EFE

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