Tel Aviv, 2 January 2024 (dpa/MIA) - Israel's Supreme Court has overturned a central element of the government's controversial judicial reform in a dramatic decision on a topic that had sparked nationwide protests earlier this year.

 

A slim majority of eight of the 15 judges were in favour of annulling an amendment to the law passed in July, the court announced on Monday in a major blow to the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

 

The Supreme Court's ruling said the amendment to the constitution had deprived the court of the opportunity to take action against "inappropriate" decisions by the government, the prime minister or individual ministers.

 

Critics of the government's amendment to judicial law had said that it could encourage corruption and the arbitrary appointment of important posts.

 

Following the ruling, representatives of the democracy movement and the opposition praised the Supreme Court, stating that the amendment to the law had "caused serious and unprecedented damage to the core characteristics of the State of Israel as a democratic state."

 

The court's judgment states that the amendment would have "caused serious and unprecedented damage to the core characteristics of the State of Israel as a democratic state".

 

Never before in Israel's history has a comparable law been overturned by the Supreme Court, and the country now faces a national crisis if the right-wing government of Netanyahu does not accept the decision.

 

The government had pushed through the amendment to the law despite massive opposition in parliament. Israel's Supreme Court then convened for a historic court hearing in September.

 

For the first time in the country's history, all 15 judges came together to deliberate on eight petitions against the adopted amendment to the Basic Law.

 

The judicial reform, a major focus of the government since it was sworn in a year ago, had deeply divided Israeli society. For months, hundreds of thousands of people repeatedly took to the streets in protest.

 

For Netanyahu, the judgment is a further setback. Since October 7, his popularity has dropped massively in the polls. Many of his critics resent the fact that he has not yet admitted any personal responsibility for the loss of life in the attacks of October 7.

 

Before then, critics had categorized the government's judicial reform as a threat to Israel's democracy. Netanyahu's government, on the other hand, argued that the court was too powerful in Israel and that they merely wanted to restore a balance. Negotiations on a compromise were unsuccessful.

 

Some had argued that the ensuing months of heated disputes were one reason why Israel was so surprised by the devastating attack led by Islamist Hamas militants in the border area on October 7.

 

Israeli opposition leader Jair Lapid expressed his support for the Supreme Court after the ruling, saying social media platform X the decision "closes a difficult year of strife that has torn us apart from within and led to the worst catastrophe in our history."

 

Lapid, who leads the centrist Future Party, said that if the Israeli government restarted the dispute over the Supreme Court, it would show that they have "learned nothing from October 7 and from 87 days of fighting for our home."

 

Government figures were quick to condemn the ruling, meanwhile, and Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party said it was "regrettable that the Supreme Court has chosen to pass a judgment at the heart of the social dispute in Israel at a time when Israeli soldiers from the right and the left are fighting and endangering their lives in war."

 

Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who is considered the driving force behind the reform, had previously asked the court to postpone the judgment until after the war.

 

On Monday, he also criticized the timing of the Supreme Court ruling. "The judgment, which has no equal in any Western democracy, will not discourage us," Levin said. "While the struggle continues on various fronts, we will continue to act with restraint and responsibility."

 

Parliament Speaker Amir Ochana went further and said the Supreme Court did not have the authority to declare laws invalid.

 

A majority of 12 of the 15 judges however also ruled that the court does have the authority to review basic laws "and to intervene in those rare and exceptional cases wherein the Knesset exceeds its Constitutive authority."

 

"The judgement must be respected," Benny Gantz, minister in Israel's war cabinet, wrote on X. The relationship between the country's authorities must be regulated - but only after the war, said Gantz, whose party would currently be by far the strongest faction in an election according to the latest polls.

 

It is unclear how the government will now react to the ruling in practice. In an interview with the US broadcaster CNN in September, Netanyahu did not give a clear answer to a question of whether he would respect a court ruling against the change in the law.

 

Photo: MIA archive