In a decisive move, the Israeli Supreme Court narrowly voted to annul a law related to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial reforms, which aimed to restrict the court’s powers to oversee the Israeli government. This ruling is a significant blow to Netanyahu, who has faced increasing criticism from both within Israel and abroad due to his leadership during the war in Gaza following a surprise attack by Hamas on October 7.
Main Facts
Netanyahu’s judicial reforms were passed by the Israeli parliament last summer, a law that sparked protests across the country. This law prohibits judges from using the legal standard of “reasonableness” to overturn government decisions, a legal standard used in other judicial systems, including Canada and the United Kingdom, which has been applied for decades in Israel.
In its ruling, the court affirmed that this law would impose a “severe and unprecedented blow to the fundamental characteristics” of Israel “as a democratic state,” according to a report by CNN.
Netanyahu has argued that the reforms are necessary to rein in judicial overreach, despite facing significant backlash over these reforms, primarily due to concerns that they would greatly expand the powers of his right-wing government and allow him to bypass charges of bribery and fraud (Netanyahu has denied these charges).
Many have also pointed out that the political turmoil related to the reforms distracted Israeli authorities before the Hamas attack on October 7, a military strike unprecedented that breached Israel’s renowned defense system and resulted in the deaths of approximately 1,200 people in Israel, prompting Netanyahu to declare war on Hamas.
Key Critics
Some of these concerns came from the Supreme Court itself, including from former court president Esther Hayut, who asked during sessions in September if the “court is prohibited from using the reasonableness standard,” then “who ensures it acts reasonably?” (Hayut retired from the court in October).
Netanyahu’s reforms also faced numerous international critics, including President Joe Biden, who described them as undemocratic, and within Israel, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant also criticized the reforms, while Benny Gantz, leader of the Israeli National Unity Party, led protests against the plan last year.
Biden criticized the measure last March, telling reporters he hoped Netanyahu would backtrack on the reform package, and told The New York Times that “building consensus around fundamental changes is really important to ensure public support so that they can be continued.” Netanyahu responded to Biden, saying that Israel – a long-standing U.S. ally – is a “sovereign state that makes its decisions based on the will of its people and not under pressure from abroad.”
Main Background
Under the legal standard of “reasonableness,” the court was able to deem a law passed by the parliament “unreasonable” if it believed that it had been passed without consideration of all relevant factors, which Netanyahu deemed too vague and overly subjective. Netanyahu and his strong right-wing coalition pledged to implement judicial reforms after Netanyahu regained power in late 2022. These reforms included a set of five changes to the country’s judicial system that effectively weakened the country’s Supreme Court and eliminated judicial oversight over the ruling party in the country. These reforms – which would limit the court’s ability to conduct judicial review of laws and give the prime minister more control in appointing judges – faced intense opposition from political opponents and some members of the Israeli defense forces, including a group of 37 reserve pilots in the Israeli Air Force who threatened in March not to participate in military training. In July, the Israeli government approved the “reasonableness” bill, the first part of Netanyahu’s reform, which restricts the court’s ability to overturn government decisions deemed “extremely unreasonable.”
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