When the newly appointed Justice Minister of the Netanyahu government, Yariv Levin, presented his strategy for “legal reform” six days after taking office, he looked unstoppable. The plan had been well-prepared, even years in the making.
Its first tranche alone would, among other things, prevent the Supreme Court from disqualifying laws it deemed unconstitutional, replace the legal counsels of government ministries with political hires loyal to their ministers, and give the coalition control over the appointments of future judges. In other words, in the absence of a written constitution and upper house of parliament, Israel would be left without any effective checks and balances on the government’s power. And this was just the first tranche.
From the start, Levin had the full backing of newly-elected Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who having spent 18 months in unaccustomed opposition, and facing a corruption case of his own, was back in power with a vengeance. No less important, the four parties of the new coalition, hard-Right and ultra-religious, shared Levin’s animosity towards the independent Supreme Court they viewed as a “progressive judicial dictatorship”. While they had a small but stable majority in the Knesset, the opposition was badly divided and wouldn’t put up much of a fight. Levin predicted he would pass the legislation by the end of the winter session.
Three months later, none of that has passed. The Knesset is about to go into its Passover recess and just one law out of Levin’s programme has emerged from the law committee, controlled by another staunch opponent of the Supreme Court. The Judicial Appointments Law is ready for its final readings, but it has been “suspended”.
On Monday night, Netanyahu announced a “pause” in the legislation, claiming that he was “not prepared to tear the nation”. He took his time, waiting almost until the last moment. But his reluctance is unsurprising: Netanyahu had just spent his first three months in office focusing nearly all his efforts on a policy that is unlikely to be passed into law any time soon. It was blocked by a protest movement that sprung up, nearly from nothing, and launched a campaign, revolutionary in nature but totally bloodless, that stopped his government in its tracks.
The first weekend of protests was not promising. They were organised on a Saturday night in Tel Aviv by a disparate group of Left-wing movements who focused on solidarity with the Palestinians, the first obvious victims of the nationalist government, and anti-corruption organisations who had led the protests against Netanyahu during his previous term. They couldn’t agree on a joint platform and the protests ended up splitting.
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SubscribeThe fact that the court can appoint its own members suggests that there is no check on it…
You’re missing the point, and you’re also wrong.
The real checks are the inherent / deliberate tensions between a legislature, an executive and the judiciary.
Judges in Israel are not appointed by the Court, but are appointed by a Judicial Selection Committee. Similar to what happens in the UK. Obviously, such a cttee is full of lawyers, as you’d expect, as they are best placed to opine on ability. You would not, for instance, entrust a non-engineer to appoint an engineer.
You need to read, or re-read, AV Dicey’s book The Law of the Constitution.
You don’t appear to know enough about the subject to offer opinions on it.
Does the UK Judicial Selection Committee have sitting Supreme Court judges as members, with sufficient votes to block candidates they don’t want?
Well done Frank!
Does the UK Judicial Selection Committee have sitting Supreme Court judges as members, with sufficient votes to block candidates they don’t want?
Well done Frank!
You’re missing the point, and you’re also wrong.
The real checks are the inherent / deliberate tensions between a legislature, an executive and the judiciary.
Judges in Israel are not appointed by the Court, but are appointed by a Judicial Selection Committee. Similar to what happens in the UK. Obviously, such a cttee is full of lawyers, as you’d expect, as they are best placed to opine on ability. You would not, for instance, entrust a non-engineer to appoint an engineer.
You need to read, or re-read, AV Dicey’s book The Law of the Constitution.
You don’t appear to know enough about the subject to offer opinions on it.
The fact that the court can appoint its own members suggests that there is no check on it…
This is a one-sided opinion piece of what’s really happening in Israel. Way better and deeper explanations here:
“Is Israel on the Brink of Civil War?” David Woo interviewing Gadi Taub: wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watch?v=PVmwI5QVGDQ&ab_channel=DavidWooUnbound
Discussion between Gadi Taub and Peter Berkowitz: wwwDOTmosaicmagazineDOTcom/observation/israel-zionism/2023/03/podcast-peter-berkowitz-and-gadi-taub-on-the-deeper-causes-of-israels-conflict/
Long and indepth exchange pro and contra judicial reform between Evelyn Gordon and Netta Barak Cohen: wwwDOTmosaicmagazineDOTcom/response/israel-zionism/2023/03/the-need-for-judicial-reform-isnt-going-away/
“Protest Porn”by Liel Leibowitz: wwwDOTtabletmagDOTcom/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/protest-porn
“A resistance coup just defeated Israeli democracy” by Jonathan Tobin: wwwDOTjnsDOTorg/opinion/a-resistance-coup-just-defeated-israeli-democracy/
This is a one-sided opinion piece of what’s really happening in Israel. Way better and deeper explanations here:
“Is Israel on the Brink of Civil War?” David Woo interviewing Gadi Taub: wwwDOTyoutubeDOTcom/watch?v=PVmwI5QVGDQ&ab_channel=DavidWooUnbound
Discussion between Gadi Taub and Peter Berkowitz: wwwDOTmosaicmagazineDOTcom/observation/israel-zionism/2023/03/podcast-peter-berkowitz-and-gadi-taub-on-the-deeper-causes-of-israels-conflict/
Long and indepth exchange pro and contra judicial reform between Evelyn Gordon and Netta Barak Cohen: wwwDOTmosaicmagazineDOTcom/response/israel-zionism/2023/03/the-need-for-judicial-reform-isnt-going-away/
“Protest Porn”by Liel Leibowitz: wwwDOTtabletmagDOTcom/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/protest-porn
“A resistance coup just defeated Israeli democracy” by Jonathan Tobin: wwwDOTjnsDOTorg/opinion/a-resistance-coup-just-defeated-israeli-democracy/
Israel mobilised to stop Netanyahu?
Uhmm….. didn’t Israel only just *elect* Netanyahu?
Israel mobilised to stop Netanyahu?
Uhmm….. didn’t Israel only just *elect* Netanyahu?
This author has gotten the pulse of Israel exactly wrong. I read on for the laughs.
Please elaborate
Judging by the size of the protests, and the fact the crook in charge has backed down on his reforms it looks pretty accurate to me, unless you have information that I’m not aware of?
Narrator: He wasn’t actually laughing.
Please elaborate
Judging by the size of the protests, and the fact the crook in charge has backed down on his reforms it looks pretty accurate to me, unless you have information that I’m not aware of?
Narrator: He wasn’t actually laughing.
This author has gotten the pulse of Israel exactly wrong. I read on for the laughs.
The author is spot on. Exactly what is happening, I speak daily with all my friends overthere.
The author is spot on. Exactly what is happening, I speak daily with all my friends overthere.
I don’t know that Net is so weakened here in the long run. This was just a bad law, and the entire country reacted appropriately. His other policies haven’t suddenly lost their luster. I actually think this episode shows that Israel is still alive and well and functioning. This is how democracy is supposed to work.
I don’t know that Net is so weakened here in the long run. This was just a bad law, and the entire country reacted appropriately. His other policies haven’t suddenly lost their luster. I actually think this episode shows that Israel is still alive and well and functioning. This is how democracy is supposed to work.