After an extensive debate at night, the Knesset approved yesterday in first reading the central measures of the “judicial reform” undertaken by the Executive of Beniamin Netanyahu. The three bills are the basis of what the opposition considers a “coup” that will undermine the independence of the judiciary. The attempts of the nation’s president, Isaac Herzog, who implored a State pact in the well-founded fear that this “nightmare” would lead to a civil conflict, were ignored. “We are facing a serious situation that will have political, economic, social and security consequences,” he warned.
Among the measures, the law that will prevent the incapacitation of a prime minister due to conflict of interest stands out, so Bibi cannot be removed from office even if he is found guilty in the three criminal cases he is facing. The other arrangements will empower the Knesset to overturn Supreme Court decisions by a simple majority and remove judicial oversight from Parliament. Thanks to the victory harvested –61 votes in favor and 52 against–, the Executive is closer to converting its plan into a “basic law” of the State at the end of March. In a country without a Constitution or second chamber, the Supreme Court has historically acted as a brake on the excesses of political power. Now, their decisions will hardly be applied.
According to the approved bill, a prime minister can only be disqualified if three quarters of the government ministers accept it. In the event that the prime minister rejects this decision, the support of at least 90 deputies (out of 120) will be required.
Thanks to the other reforms, the Knesset will be able to legislate from scratch laws vetoed by the judiciary. The coalition will be able to reverse the recent invalidation of minister Aryeh Deri, from the Shas ultra-orthodox formation, disqualified for his corrupt past and for breaching the pact with the Prosecutor’s Office, who liquidated his last sentence in exchange for his withdrawal from political life. If the Supreme Court wants to interfere in the government action, it must obtain 12 favorable votes (out of 15) and demonstrate that the measure “clearly contradicts what is established in a basic law.”
“Whoever looks at the facts knows that the one who protects our rights is the Knesset and not the Supreme Court. Are you surprised that we need a clause to annul their decisions?” asked Simcha Rothman, a Religious Zionism deputy who heads the legislative committee. The Likud and its far-right and religious associates also want to control the process of selecting judges, since they consider that the current mechanism turned the judiciary into a closed elite controlled by the left. They also want the Justice Ministry to control the police’s internal investigations division, or remove the powers of government legal advisers.
The centrist opponent Benny Gantz, who formed a national unity executive with Netanyahu during the pandemic, considered: “You are giving yourself unlimited power, with the annulment of some controls that are essential in a democratic state.” For Avigdor Lieberman, who was also Minister of Defense with Bibi, it is “one more step for this crazy government that is deeply dividing the people to the point of splitting them in two.” In the heated public debate unleashed, a fierce struggle between two country models transcends: a Western-style liberal democracy or a state guided by halacha (Jewish law). Although the Likud leader is not religious, he granted unprecedented powers to messianics and supremacists in exchange for ensuring their loyalty.
For the Movement for a Quality Government, which asked the Supreme Court to invalidate the prime minister, yesterday’s vote shows that “Netanyahu uses Parliament for his personal interests with corrupt laws with which he intends to evade justice.” From the Likud they celebrated the end of “judicial activism”. “The Israelis did not vote for an attorney general who decides who can govern and throws your votes in the trash,” exclaimed the head of the coalition, Ofir Katz. Voices from the right-wing party even call for the abolition of the charges for fraud and breach of trust for which Bibi is accused.
David Weinberg, a researcher at the Kohelet forum (a think tank favorable to judicial reform), considers that “the poison that the catastrophic protesters are spreading is much worse than the proposals themselves.” He considers exaggerated the accusations that the country is hijacked by “dark forces of ultranationalism, racism and religious radicalism”, which led to calls for military insubordination and withdrawal of funds from the country. “There is no democracy in which judges are appointed by their colleagues,” Weinberg settled. For Netanyahu, the “leftist press” is guilty of fueling chaos in the streets.
