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The Knesset (Israeli Parliament) today definitively approved the law that annuls the doctrine of reasonableness, the first law of the controversial legislative package judicial reform promoted by the Government of Benjamin Netanyahu.
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The law went ahead with 64 upvotes -all the deputies of the parties of the government coalition- and zero against, since the 56 deputies of the opposition bloc were absent from the vote.
The doctrine of reasonableness, now annulled, allowed the supreme court review and revoke government decisions or appointments and is seen by the protest movement as a guarantee fundamental democratic against abuses of power.
“We have taken the first step in the important historical process of correcting the legal system and restoring the powers that were taken from the government and the Knesset for many years“said the Minister of Justice, Yariv Levinarchitect of the judicial reformafter the approval of the law.
Before the vote, Levin pointed out that this law “It will restore the balance between government authorities and respect for the will of the voters”.
The law was voted on in a plenary session that began yesterday Sunday, after 30 hours of heated debates between the government and the opposition, while thousands of protesters camped out in front of the Knesset Since Saturday night they have been protesting against the reform, seen as a threat to democracy because it undermines the separation of powers and the independence of the judiciary.
Given the strong division generated, in the last 48 hours there have been several attempts at negotiation, promoted by the president isaac herzogso that the Government and opposition reach a consensus agreement, but they have failed again.
“Our main condition was to protect Israeli democracy, but with this government it is impossible to reach agreements that preserve the israeli democracy”, declared the leader of the opposition, shortly before the vote, Yair Lapidvisibly angry.
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“They want to destroy the state, destroy the democracydestroy the security of Israel, the unity of the people of Israel and our international relations”, lamented Lapid, who accused the government of being the “most irresponsible in history”.
Hours before the vote, Herzog again appealed tounderstanding” and the “responsibility” of the parties to reach a consensus in the face of what he described as a “national emergency” in the face of the deep social fracture that the reform has caused, which has unleashed the largest protests in the history of Israel.
Herzog met yesterday separately with Netanyahu and with opposition leaders, Yair Lapid and Benny Gantzto resume negotiations that began in April, but broke down in June, when the government decided to go ahead unilaterally with the reform.
This revitalized the protest movement, which has not ceased for seven months, with massive demonstrations in recent weeks – this Saturday more than 550,000 people took to the streets throughout the country – a strong social pressure on the unions to call a general strike and more than 10,000 reservists who refuse to volunteer for duty.
Today’s day was also marked by protests against the Knessetwhich have so far left 19 detainees and five slightly injured in altercations with the police, who resorted to the mounted police and water cannons to disperse the demonstrators who were blocking the accesses to the airport.
Source: Elcomercio
I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.
