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On Monday evening, the Israeli Supreme Court annulled, by a majority of its judges, a key provision in a government law Benjamin Netanyahu The controversial judicial reform, which reduced some of the powers of the country’s senior judges and sparked widespread popular protests, was criticized Likud Party Led by Netanyahu, the court’s decision was considered “contradictory to the will of the people.”
The law limiting reasonableness, which was struck down by the court, could prevent Israeli courts, including the Supreme Court, from applying what is known as the “reasonableness standard” to decisions taken by the government or the Knesset (the Israeli parliament) that may be considered “unreasonable.”
The law, which Netanyahu has long defended, was part of a package of judicial reform laws that sparked controversy when the current government pushed it before the aggression on Gaza, and caused a deep rift in Israel and anxiety among its Western allies.
The official Hebrew Broadcasting Corporation said that the Israeli Supreme Court took the decision to abolish the reasonableness limit by a majority of 8 out of 15 judges.
The Likud Party “regrets”
According to the panel, 12 of the judges stated that the court has the authority to conduct a judicial review of the Basic Laws (serving as a constitution in Israel), and to intervene in exceptional and extreme cases in which the Knesset exceeds its founding authority.
While opposition lawmakers praised the ruling, Netanyahu’s Likud party said the court’s decision was unfortunate and went against “the people’s will for unity, especially in times of war.”
Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin accused the Supreme Court of “seizing all powers,” and said that by issuing the ruling, “the judges are seizing all the powers that are divided in the democratic system in a balanced manner between the three authorities.”
The Israeli Knesset ratified the aforementioned law last July by a majority of 64 out of 120 members, in the absence of the opposition, whose parties decided not to participate in the vote in protest against it.
The law, which was annulled by the Supreme Court, is one of eight draft laws known as the “Judicial Amendments Plan” that was pushed by the Netanyahu government amid massive, unprecedented protests that have spread across the country since the beginning of 2023 and continued until before the devastating aggression on Gaza on the seventh of last October.
