David Horovitz is the founding editor of The Times of Israel. He is the author of “Still Life with Bombers” (2004) and “A Little Too Close to God” (2000), and co-author of “Shalom Friend: The Life and Legacy”. by Yitzhak Rabin” (1996). In the past, he edited The Jerusalem Post (2004-2011) and The Jerusalem Report (1998-2004).
In putting forward proposals to “reform” Israel’s justice system, Justice Minister Yariv Levin on Wednesday night sounded the death knell for our thriving, insufficiently entrenched democracy.
A Likud best friend of new Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the radical coalition he took last Thursday, Levin described his plan as strengthening democracy, strengthening the judiciary, and “rebalancing the 3 branches of government. “
Indeed, the proposals he unveiled, which he said were only the “first step” in a “long overdue” review, almost completely eliminate Israel’s supreme court’s ability for all Israelis from the excesses and abuses of any ruling majority.
At the heart of his reform, Levin said, is that the Knesset legislate an “escape clause,” under which High Court judges will be radically forced to try to overturn the law and government decisions they deem discriminatory, undemocratic and/or in violation of Israel’s quasi-rights. -Basic constitutional laws.
Once his proposals become law, he said, the High Court will not be able to deliberate and rule on those basic laws and will only be able to annul the Knesset law through a panel of all the court’s judges and with an indefinite “special majority. “In addition, he said, the Knesset could re-legislate a law blocked by the court, with the help of just 61 deputies in the 120-seat chamber. Only if the 15 judges unanimously agree to annul a law that prevents the Knesset from re-legislating it in this legislature. (Many members of the current opposition might support a clause nonetheless, but a clause thoughtfully intended as a clause, in which it would also take a really large proportion of opposition votes to re-legislate a blocked law through the court. )
Levin also proposed reconstituting the panel that decides the judges first, with a replacement for the variety committee that, once again, provides maximum strength to the political majority of the day. As things stand, “the judges decide on themselves, the scenes,” he said. Badly claimed.
Levin argued that the judges had attracted this neutralization themselves, going too far and intervening unsteadily in the paintings of Israel’s elected politicians. (The court has struck down 22 laws in the state’s 75-year history. )The court’s growing involvement in government decisions and Knesset law “has reduced public confidence in the judiciary to historic lows, undermined the government and undermined democracy,” he charged.
Indeed, the court has played an important role in protecting democracy given the limitations and peculiarities of the Israeli system.
While Levin stands out in his comments between the executive and the legislative, presenting them as two distinct branches of government, in Israel they return to the same thing. A like-minded ruling majority, such as the 64-member coalition Netanyahu leads lately, can push any law through parliament. In addition, Israel has no constitution, no bill of rights, no parliamentary chamber. The High Court is the only brake.
The importance of this role has only been underscored in recent days, with the rise of Netanyahu’s right-wing, far-right and ultra-Orthodox coalition, whose member agendas include bills that may allow service providers to turn away customers. , clients, patients, etc. , if they felt their devout ideals demanded it, an example of ostensibly legalized discrimination that the High Court, without restriction, can be invoked to resist.
Tellingly, Levin unveiled his proposals on the eve of a High Court hearing on the legality of Arye Deri, the leader of the coalition’s ultra-Orthodox Shas component, who is returning to the ministerial post. Deri negotiated a suspended sentence less than a year ago as a component. of a reduced guilt price for tax offences which the Jerusalem Court of First Instance agreed on condition that he withdraw from public life.
Israel’s attorney general told the court Wednesday that it may simply not protect Deri’s appointment as interior minister, fitness minister and deputy prime minister because it is “extremely unreasonable. “
Among the proposals unveiled through Levin, the perception of “reasonableness” as a valid legal criterion has just been annulled.
Netanyahu chose to accompany Levin when he unveiled his revolutionary plan. But the prime minister is the main beneficiary.
Netanyahu is being tried in 3 cases of fraudsters, denies having acted badly in each of them and insists that he framed him, in part, through the prosecution.
Some of his coalition allies are pushing for the retroactive removal from the penal code of the rate of “fraud and breach of trust” that is not unusual in all 3 cases, and to grant retroactive immunity to a sitting prime minister for alleged crimes committed during his tenure: a so-called “French law”. Since Israel has no term limits for its political leader, unlike France, such a law would protect Netanyahu as long as he remains in power.
The High Court can also be counted on to counter this type of legislative abuse. Under Levin’s proposals, he would probably be reluctant or unable to do so.
The fact that, with those 64 votes, what he revealed Wednesday night as proposals to be discussed “deeply” in the Knesset, may become law almost immediately if the coalition so decides.
Indeed, the Netanyahu-led coalition temporarily replaced some elements of that central legislation deceptively named in a legislative bombardment last month to meet the demands of some of its constituent parties before taking office.
Opposition leaders were quick Wednesday to call Levin’s proposals a “political coup. “
This would possibly seem strange, given that the other people organizing it are already in force. But here’s the point: once those “reforms” are instituted, the other people in place no longer want to give them up. There will be no other branch of government for them.
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Thank you, David Horovitz, founding editor of The Times of Israel.
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