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8 | JULY 16 • 2020 

1942 - 2020

Covering and Connecting 
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an unprecedented application of a broad 
and expandable criminal statute endangers 
democracy.
”
This is certainly not the first time the 
ethics of the Israeli Supreme Court have 
been called into question. Israel’
s Supreme 
Court is by far the most powerful among 
the western democracies. Only in Israel 
do Supreme Court judges elect their own 
successors. This means that the same small 
group of judges decide year after year 
and decade after decade who will make 
the laws for the country. As you might 
imagine, Supreme Court judges elect 
other judges who share their same agenda. 
Those qualified individuals whose opinions 
differ drastically have no chance of serving 
on the bench. Aharon Barak, past judge 
and president of the Supreme Court, 
summarized it perfectly: “The Supreme 
Court is family; you can’
t bring someone in 
from outside the family.
”
This undemocratic way of electing judges 
has historically resulted in a Supreme 
Court that maintains a left-wing agenda 
at all costs — even when that agenda is so 
different from the current majority-elected 
government. The Supreme Court holds 
so much power, in fact, a common saying 
in Israel is, 
 “Why go vote if the Supreme 
Court runs the show anyway?”
With its ability to overturn any decision 
made by the Knesset, the Supreme Court 
wields power over all aspects of Israeli 
society. The Supreme Court overruled the 
Knesset’
s decision on the location of Israel’
s 

security wall, which protects Israelis from 
Palestinian terrorists. The Court allowed 
the wall, but shrunk the borders, thus 
ceding more Israeli land and taking it into 
their own hands to determine the country’
s 
boundaries.
The Supreme Court also has the final 
say on who enters the country. When the 
Knesset passed a law to ban leaders of 
the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and 
Sanctions movement (BDS) from entering 
Israel, the Supreme Court reversed the 
decision, allowing them to enter freely.
The Supreme Court also dictates 
Israel’
s ability to defend itself. In the early 
2000s, during the Second Intifada, when 
Palestinians were murdering Israelis on a 
daily basis, the IDF requested the state to 
allow the army to seal off (for a hefty com-
pensation) buildings belonging to suspected 
Palestinian terrorists in Gaza. These 
particular buildings overlooked main Israeli 
roads and served as a convenient place to 
shoot from.
The Knesset approved the IDF’
s request, 
but the Supreme Court overturned the 
decision. Not long after, a pregnant Israeli 
mother by the name of Tali Chatoel and 
her four daughters were murdered in their 
car by Palestinians sniping from those very 
buildings the Supreme Court insisted stay 
open. 
It is a sad irony that soon after the 
murder, 8,000 Jews, including Tali Chatoel’
s 
husband, pleaded to the Supreme Court to 
reverse the government’
s decision to uproot 

them from their homes during the disen-
gagement from Gush Katif. The Supreme 
Court dismissed their request, another 
instance of the court negating the basic 
human rights of Israeli Jews.
The idea that the Supreme Court defends 
democracy is such a façade that even 
publicly criticizing the court is risky: It was 
recently discovered that the Supreme Court 
had been keeping a secret log of its critics 
on social media.
Of course, an independent Supreme 
Court is necessary for a democracy to 
thrive, but in Israel, the Supreme Court has 
been abusing its power to the point that the 
core democratic value of electing officials to 
represent the will of the people has become 
obsolete. 
Israel must reform its Supreme Court 
to resemble those in the United States and 
other western democracies. Supreme Court 
judges should not have the power to elect 
their own successors, and a law should be 
passed that allows the final decision on 
Israel’
s policies to be placed in the hands of 
the 7 million Israeli voters. 
Benjamin Netanyahu, whether you 
like him or not, was fairly elected by the 
majority of Israeli voters. The people have 
spoken, and 15 judges representing the 
minority opinion should not have the right 
to overturn the will of the people. 

Kobi Erez is the executive director of the Zionist 
Organization of America-Michigan Region.

ISRAEL MUST REFORM continued from page 6

