Israeli Supreme Court strikes down the basic law of Netanyahu's judicial reform

The Government regrets the ruling but gives priority to the war against Hamas

The Israeli Supreme Court annulled this Monday in a tight vote the Amendment to the Basic Judicial Law, the most important norm approved within the framework of the controversial judicial reform promoted by the Government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It is the first time in Israel's history that a court annuls a basic law, at a quasi-constitutional level.

The Supreme Court has approved this norm by eight votes to seven and has supported with the vote of twelve magistrates the ability of the courts to review the laws approved by Parliament, including basic laws such as the one that repealed the law known as the Cause Law in July. Probable, according to the Israeli press.

The courts thus retain their powers to intervene and annul, exceptionally and in extreme cases, regulations in which the Knesset or Parliament exceeds its authority.

The Minister of Justice of the Israeli Government and architect of judicial reform, Yariv Levin, has denounced that with this ruling the judges assume the three powers into which the State should be divided.

"They are taking into their hands all the powers that in a democracy are divided between the three powers," he stated, according to 'The Times of Israel'. "It is impossible to legislate even a basic law or make a decision in the Knesset or in the Government without the approval of the Supreme Court, thereby depriving millions of citizens of their voice," she reproached.

For Levin, this is an unprecedented sentence in the democratic world, although he stressed that the Government "will continue to act with restraint and responsibility" as long as the military campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip continues.

Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana has stated that "it is evident that the Supreme Court has no authority to overturn basic laws," but "it is even more evident that we cannot deal with this for so long while we are in the middle of a war".

The Minister of Culture and Sports, Miki Zohar, has also regretted the ruling. "It would have been better if this sentence had come out after these difficult moments if only to avoid the return of divisive speeches (...). We must bite our lips, demonstrate responsibility and maintain unity. It is our responsibility towards the fallen," he argued.

Netanyahu's Likud party has also warned that the ruling be issued "when right-wing and left-wing soldiers fight and put their lives in danger." "It contradicts the people's desire for unity, especially at this time of war," he warned.

THE RULING "ENDS THE CONFLICT"

For the leader of the opposition Yesh Atid party, Yair Lapid, the ruling "puts an end to a difficult year of conflict that has divided us from within and led us to the worst disaster in our history."

Lapid has highlighted that "the origin of power in Israel, the basis for Israeli strength, is in our character as a Jewish, democratic, liberal and law-abiding state." "If the Government resumes the dispute over the Supreme Court, it means that they have not learned anything," he stressed.

The leader of the Labor Party, Merav Michaeli, has highlighted that "even conservative judges have ruled today that the court has the authority to review and invalidate basic laws." "There is no more obvious statement for those who attack and destroy democracy. Israeli democracy will not surrender," he added.

From the Movement for a Quality Government in Israel they have praised the "historic verdict", "a tremendous popular victory for those who aspire to democracy." "A Government and ministers seeking to exempt themselves from the rule of law have been told that there are judges in Jerusalem, that there is democracy, that there is separation of powers," the group has argued.

The Amendment to the Judicial Basic Law was approved on July 24. These basic laws are considered chapters of a future Constitution of Israel.

This judicial reform has been the reason for months of mobilizations against the Netayahu Government, which the opposition accuses of totalitarianism and of attacking the division of powers by trying to reduce the scope of the law of reasonableness to the administrative level and leaving out the of elected officials. Even the Israeli attorney general, Gali Baharav Miara, has expressed her rejection of the now repealed rule.

The protests have only ceased after the October 7 attacks by Hamas against Israeli soil that left some 1,200 dead and led to a retaliatory military operation against the Gaza Strip.