Israel: SC strikes down Netanyahu govt’s contentious judicial overhaul initiative

Jerusalem: The Israeli Supreme Court’s landmark decision nullifying a controversial law passed by Parliament in 2023 received mixed reactions on Tuesday even as the media said the “wise thing” for the government, already fighting a major war against Hamas militants in Gaza, would be to “let go and move on”.

The July 2023 law passed by Knesset, the Israeli parliament, had eliminated the reasonableness clause, part of the judicial overhaul, that many criticised would have weakened the judiciary, giving the executive “unreasonable” powers, which would have threatened the basic democratic nature of the Israeli State.

The “reasonableness” law was part of a wider series of judicial reforms introduced by the government led by 74-year-old Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Late on Monday evening, all 15 Supreme Court justices participated in the decision with the ruling passed by a razor-thin 8-7 majority, reminiscent in many ways of the divided population

on the evocative issue which saw the largest demonstrations in the country right till the outbreak of the war on October 7 following the unprecedented attack by Hamas militants.

Israel lacks a written constitution and has been governed since its independence based on a certain set of Basic Laws.

Detailing the arguments given by each of the judges, in favour and against, local media reports said Monday’s decision was a way for the

court to tell the Knesset that it cannot dictate what the court needs to do and stated that Knesset’s next move can possibly be “to legislate a law saying, yes, we can do exactly that’.”

“In other words, if the government decides to push the issue amid a raging war, the country may not know who has the final word:

the government/Knesset or the court,” an analysis said.

The Jerusalem Post said in a comment piece: “The wise thing for the government to do now is just to forget about it and let it go.

The government passed the controversial amendment, and the High Court of Justice shot it down.

In the meantime, Hamas attacked, killed 1,200 people, took another 240 hostages, and plunged the country into an existential war.”

Observing that the current political constellation is expected to change dramatically after the war in any event, it said that “the governing coalition that pushed through this reform will likely not be the one ruling the country that much longer.”