Israel’s parliament passes law on controversial judiciary restructuring

Despite massive opposition, Israel’s parliament has approved a core element of the controversial judicial reform. After days of debate on Monday, 64 out of 120 MPs voted in favor of a bill that limits the Supreme Court’s scope of action.

The opposition boycotted the vote. The law is part of a larger package. Critics see it as a threat to Israeli democracy.

With the new law, it is no longer possible for the Supreme Court to judge a decision by the government or individual ministers as “inappropriate”. Critics fear that this will encourage corruption and thus the arbitrary filling of key posts and layoffs. The Netanyahu government, on the other hand, accuses the judiciary of interfering too much in political decisions.

Israel does not have a written constitution

The State of Israel has no written constitution and is instead based on a set of fundamental laws. Therefore, the Supreme Court is of particular importance in upholding the rule of law and human rights.

For more than six months, the project has divided large segments of Israeli society. Thousands of people regularly take to the streets against a weakening of the judiciary. Negotiations, even at the last minute, for a compromise failed.

Recently, resistance within the army has also increased. More than 10,000 reservists have announced they will no longer serve if some of the controversial plans are approved. There were also such threats from business and other parts of society.

Netanyahu’s coalition is the most right-wing the country has ever had. The law changes are also being pushed through under pressure from Netanyahu’s strictly religious coalition partners. However, according to experts, they could also play into the hands of Netanyahu in a long-running corruption trial against him.

(yam/saw/sda/dpa)