AUGUST 10 • 2023 | 39
ERETZ
I
srael’s parliament, the Knesset, passed
the first part in the planned overhaul
of the country’s judiciary system on
July 27. What does this new legislation
do, and why is it so controversial?
The Knesset passed legislation that
abolishes the “reasonableness doctrine,”
which the Supreme Court of Israel has
employed to evaluate government poli-
cies. It is a practice used by high courts
in Australia, Canada and the United
Kingdom, among other countries.
The doctrine operates exactly as it
sounds: the court determines whether
a given government policy is sensible
and sound. For example, when Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed
Shas party leader Aryeh Deri as minister
of finance, the Supreme Court deter-
mined — based on the reasonableness
doctrine — that he was not eligible to
serve in the position due to previous
convictions of bribery, fraud, breach of
trust, money laundering and various tax
offenses.
Critics of the package fear that it will
weaken the judicial system in favor
of the government and the Knesset.
Because Israel has a parliamentary
system, proposed reforms such as
undermining judicial oversight and
changing the way judges are appointed
will undermine the balance of power
between Israel’s branches of govern-
ment. As a result, opponents argue, the
changes underway will destabilize Israeli
democracy. Proponents of the reforms
argue the opposite, making the case that
the judiciary has become an unaccount-
able branch of government that has
usurped the power of the Knesset and
the government in setting policy.
The divisiveness of the debate over
judicial reforms reflects the fact that
Israelis have moved beyond debating the
relative merits of technical changes to
the judiciary and are now arguing over
a range of difficult issues, including the
role of religion in Israeli society, nation-
al identity and the defining qualities
of Israel’s polity. All of these are inter-
twined with debates about Israel’s Jewish
and democratic character. In this way,
the judicial reform package has spurred
a high-stakes national conversation
about what it means to be Israeli.
The resulting divisions have raised
concerns about Israeli security as mili-
tary reservists have vowed not to show
up for duty as a result of the changes,
how the current instability will affect the
Israeli economy and the possibility of
violence among Israelis.
WHO IS BEHIND THE PLANS TO
REFORM THE JUDICIARY, AND
WHAT DO THEY AIM TO ACHIEVE?
In addition to Prime Minister
Netanyahu, the Israeli officials most
closely associated with the judicial
reform project are Minister of Justice
Yariv Levin, who is a member of the
Likud Party, and Simcha Rotman, who is
a member of the Religious Zionist Party
and chair of the Knesset’s Constitution,
Law and Justice Committee. Levin and
Rotman are just the most high-profile
of a group of right-wing and right-of-
center politicians who have sought to
overhaul the judiciary. They have been
aided in this effort by an organization
called the Kohelet Policy Forum, which
is backed financially by American and
Israeli citizens and states that it aims to
“secure Israel’s future as the nation-state
of the Jewish people, to strengthen rep-
resentative democracy, and to broaden
individual liberty and free-market prin-
ciples in Israel.”
ARE ANY CHALLENGES TO THE
NEW LAW LIKELY TO SUCCEED?
Given that Netanyahu and his coalition
government hold a 64-seat majority in
the 120-seat Knesset, it is unlikely that
opposition parties can do anything with-
in the legislature to stop judicial reform.
The images of hundreds of thousands
of Israelis protesting over many months
have been arresting, but despite this
pressure, popular demonstrations have
done nothing to prevent judicial reform
from proceeding.
The Israeli Supreme Court has
announced that it will hear petitions
challenging the new law that limits its
ability to strike down government deci-
sions in September.
The announcement paves the way for
a possible constitutional crisis in
Israel.
Israel’s Judicial Reforms:
What to Know
STEVEN A. COOK
COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS