The Israeli Supreme Court announced on Monday that it had invalidated a key provision of the highly controversial judicial reform promoted by the government of Benjamin Netanyahu. The invalidated measure provided for removing from the judiciary the right to rule on “the reasonableness” of decisions of the Israeli government or Parliament. Eight of the 15 judges of the Supreme Court voted to invalidate this measure, the Israeli Ministry of Justice said in a statement.
Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin accused the court of “assuming all powers to itself.” Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party criticized the timing of this decision, saying it was “regrettable that the Supreme Court decided to publish its verdict at the heart of a social debate in Israel while soldiers from the right and left fight and risk their lives in the countryside. “The Court’s decision is contrary to the people’s desire for unity especially in times of war,” the party added.
The appointment of a close friend of Netanyahu to the Ministry of the Interior, invalidated a year ago
Since the announcement of the judicial reform in January, the project has been contested in the streets. He was at the origin of one of the most important popular mobilization movements in the history of Israel. According to the coalition government bringing together right-wing, far-right parties and ultra-orthodox Jewish groups, this reform aims to correct an imbalance, by strengthening the power of elected officials over that of magistrates. Israel has no Constitution, nor the equivalent of an upper house of Parliament, and the doctrine of “reasonableness” has been used precisely to allow judges to determine whether a government is overstepping its prerogatives.
In January 2023, the Supreme Court invalidated the appointment of Arié Deri, a close friend of Benjamin Netanyahu, as interior minister, arguing that he had been convicted of tax evasion and was therefore not “reasonable” he sits in the government. Critics of the reform accuse Benjamin Netanyahu, on trial for corruption, of wanting to use this reform to soften a possible judgment against him, which he denies.
The Supreme Court also ruled that it had the authority to invalidate a basic law “in rare and exceptional cases in which Parliament exceeds its authority.” The Basic Laws serve as the Constitution in Israel.