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

He Israeli Supreme Court announced today the annulment of a fundamental law of the controversial judicial reform that the Government of Benjamin Netanyahu passed in July, and this took away the court’s own power to review and overturn government decisions based on whether they were reasonable or not.

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

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The court’s decision is a blow to the right-wing coalition’s reform plan Netanyahuwhich, according to detractors, would harm the division of powers and independence of the Justice in Israeland that until the beginning of the war in Link brought masses of Israelis to the streets in a protest movement of historic dimensions in the country.

The court also determined “who has the power to carry out judicial review” in Laws Basic -with constitutional status in Israel- and “intervene in rare and exceptional cases in which the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) exceeds its constituent authority”.

The sentence, which became public while the country is immersed in war in LinkIt is considered “historic” It is “controversial” by the Israeli press, by putting the issue of judicial reform back on the table, which caused a lot of polarization between supporters and opponents and worsened the division already existing in the country, now left aside following the war effort against Hamas.

The Supreme Court’s decision is a response to eight appeals filed by entities such as the Movement for Quality Government in Israel. This led to a hearing in September with the court’s 15 magistrates present to consider appeals against the law, which quashed the summons “doctrine of reasonableness”.

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

Those who opposed 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 Israel’s history, also made up of far-right forces – warned at the time that a decision contrary to the norm on the part of the Supreme would put democracy in check, and they threatened not comply with the decision.

The law in question was approved as an amendment to one of the Basic Laws of Israelfundamental rules governing the statewhich since its founding in 1948 has not had a constitution.

It is also the first time in the history of Israel in which the Supreme Court intervened in the face of a change in a Basic law.

Source: Elcomercio

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