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Benjamin Netanyahu’s rightwing allies have blasted Israel’s top court for harming wartime “unity” while signalling they will wait to resurrect contentious judicial reforms struck down in a landmark ruling.
The “reasonableness bill” to overhaul the power of judges, which was passed in the summer and annulled by the supreme court on Monday, was a crucial priority for the prime minister’s governing coalition and cast by its critics as a power grab.
But any attempt to revive the divisive policy, which triggered widespread protests, is expected to take a back seat to the overriding importance of Israel’s offensive against Hamas and the constraints of the broader coalition formed to fight the war.
The supreme court in an 8-7 decision deemed the law, which would have eliminated the ability of the judges to review government decisions and appointments, as undermining the country’s “core [democratic] character”. It marked the first time that Israel’s top court has struck down a quasi-constitutional law passed in parliament, and in a 12-to-3 ruling, the justices deemed they had the authority to do so.
Yariv Levin, justice minister, insisted the ruling would “not deter us”. “The judges’ decision to publish the ruling during a war is the opposite of the spirit of unity needed at this time for the success of our fighters on the front,” he wrote on Facebook.
But signalling that a second push on the reforms may be deferred until after the end of Israel’s offensive in Gaza, he added: “While there is a war under way on multiple fronts, we will maintain restraint and responsibility.”
Israel was rocked for much of 2023 by the Netanyahu government’s contentious legislative drive, with months of mass street protests, the largest in the country’s history, only ending after the surprise Hamas attack on October 7.
The issue had split Israeli society, with analysts and politicians warning of a looming constitutional crisis and even civil strife.
The deep divisions, which even included military reservists refusing to report for duty, were only set aside after the outbreak of war. An unofficial wartime motto promoted by both Netanyahu and his political opponents stated: “Together we will win.”
Miki Zohar, minister of culture and a close ally of Netanyahu, said in a television interview that while the ruling was “infuriating” and “could lead to an unnecessary rift and division”, there would be time “once the war is over” to pursue further judicial reform.
Netanyahu’s emergency wartime government, formed in October to bring in centrist rival and former army chief Benny Gantz, was also likely to be a restraining factor, analysts said.
Coalition partners agreed before the wartime government was formed that all contentious political issues unrelated to the war effort would be put on hold until after the conflict ended.
After the court ruling on Monday, the Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said that all the branches of the state were working in “full unity”. But he added that the perception of a rift both inside the armed forces and society may have contributed to Hamas’s decision to launch its devastating attack.
Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners were far harsher on the court, describing its decision as irresponsible and dangerous. Bezalel Smotrich, finance minister, described it as “extreme, biased and lacking in authority”.
Zvika Fogel, a coalition lawmaker from the far-right Jewish Power party, wrote on Tuesday on X: “Patience: First we’ll defeat Hamas, then we’ll take care of Hizbollah, and for dessert we’ll make order in the supreme court.”
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