The profound protests in Israel against Netanyahu's justice reform
Rights — di Luigi Mastrodonato
The aim of the reform in Israel is to strip the Supreme Court of powers and hand more of them to the government. What would be lost is democracy.
The profound protests in Israel against Netanyahu's justice reform
The aim of the reform in Israel is to strip the Supreme Court of powers and hand more of them to the government. What would be lost is democracy.
- The Knesset, Israel's unicameral parliament, has passed the new justice reform at first reading.
- The law seeks to limit the power of Supreme Court justices and increase government oversight of them.
- Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets against the reform. And the UN has also come out against it.
For several weeks, thousands of people have been taking to the streets in Israel against the Netanyahu government. At the heart of the protests is the bill on justice reform, with which the far-right executive wants to curtail the powers of the Supreme Court.
Opposition parties and protesters warn that if the law were to come into force, the country would face a democratic emergency, since government decisions would have no counterbalance — in a country that, moreover, has no constitution. The confrontation is growing ever more heated and a political crisis looms. It is yet another headache for Netanyahu, who already has to contend with charges of fraud and corruption against him.
The justice reform in Israel
The Israeli justice reform bill was introduced at the start of 2023. Its passage is one of the priorities of the new Netanyahu government, which took office in the final days of 2022 and has been described as the most far-right executive in the country's history.
The reform revolves around the role of the Supreme Court. Israel has no constitution, only Basic Laws; parliament is also composed of a single chamber, and the president has no power to block legislation. There are therefore no structured checks on the executive's activity, and it is the Supreme Court that has historically stepped in to remedy this, holding veto power over every law — not only, as is the case for example with Italy's Constitutional Court, those that concern the Basic Laws. To exercise this power it need only invoke a "reasonableness clause", which is triggered and automatically strikes down a law when it is deemed, precisely, unreasonable.
ISRAEL: Shouting breaks out as the Knesset Constitution, Law & Justice Committee convenes to vote on the proposed judicial reform package
Opposition lawmakers can be heard chanting “SHAME,” as the committee chairman refuses to heed the President’s call to delay the vote
Opposition lawmakers can be heard chanting “SHAME,” as the committee chairman refuses to heed the President’s call to delay the vote
With the new justice reform, the Netanyahu government wants to change this state of affairs and limit the power of Supreme Court justices. In particular, the text provides for raising the share of members directly appointed by the government on the committee responsible for nominating Supreme Court justices. Today they number four out of nine — a minority — with the aim of reaching eight out of 11. The reform also decrees the abolition of the reasonableness clause, except for provisions concerning the Basic Laws. Finally, the unicameral parliament is to be granted the power to overturn the Court's rulings, thereby giving members of parliament — and thus the majority that forms the government — the final say over the judges.
The street protests
On 21 February, the Knesset, Israel's unicameral parliament, passed at first reading the new justice reform. For the text to come into force it needs the green light at two further readings, but the mounting tension surrounding the law could change things.
Protest organizers say 135,000 protested in Tel Aviv and 98,845 in other cities throughout the country. Again, that's about 2.5% of Israel's total population.
For weeks, hundreds of thousands of people have been taking to the streets against the reform. Last Saturday — the seventh consecutive weekend of protests — demonstrators also occupied the homes of several members of parliament, and the country's main motorway, linking Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, was blocked. While it is widely held in Israel that the Supreme Court's power is excessive, the protesters' argument is that the new law will produce an equal but opposite effect, with all power concentrated in the hands of the executive and no mechanisms in place to oversee its activity. The country's democratic fabric is at risk, but there is more: Prime Minister Netanyahu is on trial for fraud, corruption and abuse of power on the grounds that during his previous term in office he allegedly passed laws ad hoc to benefit certain companies close to him. The fear is that the justice reform may also be a form of ad personam legislation designed to help him dodge a potential conviction.
For the 6th week in a row, mass protests against Netanyahu's plan to weaken the judicial system. According to assessments, more than 100K people are demonstrating tonight across Israel - in Tel Aviv (here in the drone footage👇), Jerusalem, Haifa & a dozen other major cities
The UN has also come out against the reform. Volker Türk, the High Commissioner for Human Rights (Ohchr), called on the government to suspend the approval process, given that the legislation poses "serious risks to the effectiveness of the judiciary in upholding the rule of law, human rights and judicial independence". More than 400 former police chiefs, heads of the Shin Bet intelligence service and Mossad secret service officials then signed a public letter criticising the reform. And even Israeli president Isaac Herzog admitted that the reform could have a negative impact on democracy. The political clash is, in short, fierce, and the Netanyahu government, barely two months after taking office, finds itself having to manage its first major crisis.