2023-07-25 04:19:18
Its relevance for all of Israel is immense: a quarter of a million people have been protesting for months once morest theproject. The country has 9.3 million inhabitants.
Reform threatens to change the balance of the separation of powers and deepen the divisions in Israeli society. The Knesset it has now approved another centerpiece of reform, despite huge headwinds.
What are the core elements of judicial reform?
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing religious coalition government wants to readjust the division of powers between the executive, legislative and judicial branches. Instead of a Constitution, individual laws regulate the interaction of institutions in Israel. Traditionally, the Supreme Court has a relatively strong position in Israel because there is no second parliamentary chamber that can control Knesset legislation.
At present, the main problem was the so-called reasonableness clause: until now, the Supreme Court might classify government decisions as “unreasonable” and declare them null and void. Netanyahu’s religious right-wing government now wants to take this power away from judges. After an initial vote in mid-July, the decisive vote now took place among the 120 Knesset deputies: all 64 coalition deputies voted in favour, so this part of the law is now approved.
The next bill will be voted on in the Knesset in the fall: it is regarding giving the government more powers in appointing judges. At the end of June, Netanyahu had hinted at a partial concession in this area. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, also indicated that he wanted to completely remove the so-called repeal clause. This would have given Parliament the right to overturn Supreme Court rulings.
What do the supporters argue?
The judges, unlike the 120 members of the Knesset, are not directly elected by the people. For this reason, the government and its supporters see the judicial reform as a reinforcement of democracy. In his opinion, the judiciary occupies a predominant position in the Israeli separation of powers, and “the reform improves the balance between the institutions.”
Within the ruling coalition, judicial reform is being pushed mainly by right-wing and religious nationalists. The Minister of National Security, the right-wing radical Itamar Ben-Gvir, recently declared that his Jewish Force party rejects any “softening” of the bill.
What do the opponents fear?
Many are convinced that the government seeks nothing less than the “destruction of democracy”, as Hungary and Poland have tried.
In Israel, judicial reform also threatens to deeply divide society, according to its critics: in the past, the Supreme Court had upheld values such as gender equality and the protection of sexual minorities once morest restrictions on the strictly religious side. Many Israelis who consider themselves secular, left-wing or liberal fear that Israel will become a country dominated by the ultra-Orthodox religious right.
The issue also affects the Army, whose compulsory service for men and women has been considered for decades a crucible of social cohesion in the country of immigration. 1142 Israeli Air Force reservists they have threatened to give up their volunteer service if the judicial reform is approved.
Due to a higher birth rate, the proportion of ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israeli society has been increasing for decades. Criticism from the reservists has also been joined by reservists from the Shin Bet and Mossad intelligence services, responsible for internal and foreign affairs.
Where are you going Israel?
Civil society groups such as the Movement for Quality Government warned following the Knesset vote that they will urge the Supreme Court to review whether their own partial overruling is constitutional. If his answer were no, Israel would probably be on the brink of a state crisis. To avoid this, the government would probably have to withdraw the judicial reform – a scenario in which observers predict a breakdown of the coalition.
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