The Israeli Supreme Court on Monday inflicted a snub on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the midst of the Gaza war by invalidating a key provision of the highly controversial judicial reform promoted by his government.
The project had triggered one of the largest protest movements in Israel’s history, overshadowed by the war with Palestinian Hamas since October 7. The Supreme Court’s decision once again brings the subject to the forefront.
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.
The Israeli Minister of Justice, Yariv Levin, accused the Court of “assuming all powers”: “In fact, the judges [de la Cour suprême] take into their hands, with this decision, all the powers which, in a democratic regime, are distributed in a balanced manner between the three powers”, executive, legislative and judicial, the minister wrote on Telegram.
Mr. Levin is number two in the government, close to Benjamin Netanyahu and architect of this controversial reform.
Against “unity”
He also criticized the publication of this judgment “in the middle of war [dans la bande de Gaza]which goes against the unity necessary in these days for the success of our fighters on the front.”
An accusation also made by Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud party which judged it “regrettable that the Supreme Court decided to publish its verdict at the heart of a social debate in Israel while the soldiers of the right and the left are fighting and risking their lives “.
The war between Israel and Hamas was sparked by the unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on October 7 on Israeli soil from the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army has since carried out military operations to “annihilate” Hamas and has relentlessly shelled the small, overpopulated Palestinian territory.
Opposition leader and former prime minister Yair Lapid welcomed the decision, saying the court had “faithfully fulfilled its role in protecting the citizens of Israel.”
This decision “ends a difficult year of conflicts that tore us apart from within and led to the worst catastrophe in our history,” Mr. Lapid said on X (formerly Twitter), referring to the attack. carried out on October 7 by Hamas.
The Supreme Court also ruled that it had the authority to invalidate a fundamental law “in rare and exceptional cases in which Parliament exceeds its authority.” The Basic Laws serve as the Constitution in Israel.
Since the announcement of the judicial reform in January 2023, 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.
Before October 7, several tens of thousands of people opposing the reform demonstrated almost every Saturday, mainly in Tel Aviv, but also in many cities across the country.
According to the coalition government, one of the most right-wing in the country’s history, combining right-wing, far-right parties and ultra-orthodox Jewish groups, this reform aims to correct an imbalance, by strengthening the power of elected officials. on 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 Mr. Netanyahu, as interior minister, arguing that he had been convicted of tax fraud and was therefore not “reasonable” that he sits in the government.
Critics of the reform accuse Mr. Netanyahu, on trial for corruption, of wanting to use this reform to soften a possible judgment against him, which he denies.