Israel’s top court to hear petitions against first part of contentious judicial overhaul

By ISABEL DEBRE
Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s highest court said Wednesday it would review legal challenges to a divisive new law that weakens its power, putting the country’s top justices in the position of defending their own independence and escalating a political crisis that has unleashed the country’s biggest protests in history.

Israeli civil society groups and others have filed petitions asking the Supreme Court to strike down the law enacted Monday — the first major piece of legislation in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s broader program to overhaul Israel’s judiciary.

The legal challenges are pushing Israel toward a showdown over the foundations of its system of government.

The court faces public pressure to strike down the law and has an inherent interest in preserving its powers and independence. But if it does so, Netanyahu’s government could ignore the ruling, setting the stage for a crisis over who has ultimate authority.

“If there is no judicial review, it means the Knesset has total power,” said Amir Fuchs, senior researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem think tank.

Critics of the overhaul describe it as a blow to democracy, arguing that Israel’s judiciary represents the primary check on the powers of the prime minister and his majority coalition in parliament.

The supporters of Netanyahu’s far-right, ultra-Orthodox government say the law will prevent liberal, unelected judges from interfering with the decisions of elected lawmakers. They also say the court should not be able to rule on a law limiting its own authority.

“To have the court decide its own powers by itself, that’s not separation of powers,” Simcha Rothman, a right-wing lawmaker spearheading the overhaul, told The Associated Press. “That’s not democracy.”

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have poured into the streets to protest against the plan for the past seven months. While protests continue, opponents are also taking their fight to the Supreme Court — the very target of Netanyahu’s overhaul plans — hoping that justices will intervene.

Israel has no constitution, relying instead on a set of “basic laws” that enshrine rights and freedoms. The prime minister governs through a majority coalition in parliament — in effect giving him control over the executive and legislative branches of government. As a result, the Supreme Court plays a critical oversight role.

The law passed Monday specifically strips the Supreme Court of its power to block government actions and appointments on the basis that they are “unreasonable.” The court’s power is meant to safeguard against corruption and overtly political appointments of unqualified candidates to important jobs.

The Supreme Court said that it would hear challenges to the new law after the Knesset returns from recess in September. It asked the law’s defendants to submit a response at least 10 days before the preliminary hearing but did not specify an exact date.

It remains unclear how the court will respond to the petitions. The Movement for Quality Government in Israel, a good governance group, said its petition contends that the law undermines Israel’s core values as a democracy and was passed through a flawed legislative process.

“We are ready. We will appear in the Supreme Court to defend Israeli democracy and we will do everything we can to stop the coup,” Eliad Shraga, the group’s chairman, said on Wednesday.

Netanyahu’s allies have vowed to plough ahead with more judicial changes after the parliamentary recess. Another planned bill at the heart of the dispute over Israel’s judicial system involves giving the government control over how judges are appointed.

The opposition party, Yesh Atid, along with pro-democracy groups, have filed a separate petition asking Justice Minister Yariv Levin to convene the powerful committee that picks the nation’s judges.

Both the governing coalition and the opposition traditionally are represented on the nine-member committee. But proponents of the overhaul have sought overall control of the committee, drawing accusations that Netanyahu and his allies were trying to stack the judiciary with cronies.

The opposition sees Netanyahu’s attempts to delay the committee’s formation as a backhanded way to enact part of the judicial overhaul without political consensus.

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Associated Press writer Julia Frankel in Jerusalem contributed to this report.