The Israeli Supreme Court has struck down a key provision of the highly controversial judicial reform promoted by the prime minister. This project sparked a major protest movement.
This is a major setback for Benjamin Netanyahu. Already singled out on the international scene for the Israeli offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Prime Minister of the Hebrew State was inflicted with a real snub by the Supreme Court of his country.
This Monday, the institution invalidated a key provision of the very controversial judicial reform promoted by its government. The project triggered one of the largest protest movements in Israeli history, since eclipsed by the war and the terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas on October 7.
With this decision, the Supreme Court brings the subject back to the forefront. The invalidated measure provided for removing from the judiciary the right to rule on the “reasonableness” decisions of the Israeli government or Parliament. Eight of the Court’s 15 justices voted to invalidate the measure. The Minister of Justice, Yariv Levin, accused the organization of “assume all powers”.
Israel has no Constitution, nor the equivalent of an upper house of Parliament, and the doctrine on “reasonableness” was specifically used to allow judges to determine whether a government is overstepping its prerogatives.
Critics of the reform accuse the Prime Minister, on trial for corruption, of wanting to use this reform to soften a possible judgment against him.