NewsRescue
On Monday, Israel’s Supreme Court overturned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s contentious judicial reform legislation, thus removing the court’s ability to question the government’s actions.
The court ruled in an 8-7 decision that a legal amendment that would have stripped it and all lower courts of the authority to cancel any government decision or appointment deemed “extremely unreasonable” would deal a “severe and unprecedented blow to the core characteristics of the State of Israel as a democratic state.”
The change to Israel’s founding Basic Law, the “reasonableness standard,” was unanimously enacted in the Knesset in July, despite some of the greatest rallies in Israeli history, as the opposition chose to boycott the vote.
Tens of thousands came to the streets every week this summer to protest Netanyahu’s proposed reforms and others, viewing the package as an effort at power grab by a leader already on trial for bribery and corruption. Prior to Hamas’ October 7 strike and subsequent war in Gaza, thousands of Israel Defence Forces reservists threatened to refuse to report for service because of the contentious legislation.
However, the attack overshadowed the differences over judicial reform, prompting key opponents Yoav Gallant and Benny Gantz to reconcile with Netanyahu and join his war cabinet. Gallant had been briefly removed as defence minister in March due to his public criticism of the reform, while Gantz had led some of the rallies against it.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid, who declined an invitation to join the wartime body, backed the Supreme Court’s decision in a post on X (previously Twitter) on Monday, saying it had “faithfully fulfilled its role in protecting the citizens of Israel.”
Yariv Levin, the Minister of Justice who wrote the rejected law, chastised the court for exhibiting “the opposite of the spirit of unity required these days for the success of our fighters on the front.” When a leaked copy of the verdict was published on Friday, Levin lashed out at the court, claiming that Israelis “expect the Supreme Court not to publish during a war a ruling that is controversial even among its judges.”
The ruling Likud party described the court’s judgement as “unfortunate,” arguing that it went “against the will of the people for unity, especially during wartime.”
On Saturday, Netanyahu warned that “wartime” could endure until 2024, telling reporters that there would be “many more months” of combat in Gaza. IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari suggested in a statement on Sunday that the fight could go all year.