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Israel’s top court has struck down a contentious law to overhaul the judiciary passed by Benjamin Netanyahu’s far right government, in a move that could reopen bitter divisions in the country over the changes.
The law was the first part of a broader push by Netanyahu’s coalition to rein in the judiciary, which ignited months of mass protests last year and threatened to trigger a constitutional crisis until the government put its plans on ice after the outbreak of war with Hamas.
In an 8-7 ruling on Monday by Israel’s supreme court, judges said they had taken their decision because of the law’s “severe and unprecedented harm to the core character of the state of Israel as a democratic country”.
It was the first time Israel’s top court has struck down part of one of Israel’s quasi-constitutional basic laws, and the judges ruled by 12-3 that they had the authority to do so.
The government had argued that the law overhauling the judiciary — which prevents Israel’s top court from using the standard of “reasonableness” to strike down government decisions — was needed to check over powerful judges that it accused of pushing a partisan, left-wing agenda.
But critics saw the changes proposed by the government — which also included giving the coalition greater control over the body that appoints judges — as a politically motivated assault on Israel’s checks and balances that would foster corruption and pave the way to the evisceration of minority rights.
Many liberal and secular Israelis also feared that the changes would allow Netanyahu’s far right allies to impose their vision of a more religious, conservative society on the rest of the population.
Justice minister Yariv Levin, one of the architects of the judicial overhaul, lashed out at the ruling, saying that it would make it impossible for the government to take decisions without the consent of the supreme court, adding this would deprive “millions of citizens of their voice”.
He insisted the ruling would not “discourage us”, but added the government would act with “restraint” as long as Israeli forces were still operating in Gaza in the war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
However, critics of the changes hailed the ruling. Yair Lapid, head of Yesh Atid, the largest opposition party, said the supreme court had “faithfully fulfilled its role in protecting the citizens of Israel”.
“We give the supreme court full backing,” he added. “If the Israeli government restarts the fight over the supreme court then they have learned nothing.”
Until normal politics was interrupted by the outbreak of the conflict with Hamas, the effort by Netanyahu’s government to overhaul the judiciary was one of the dominant issues on the Israeli domestic agenda.
The divisions opened up by the overhaul triggered Israel’s deepest political crisis in years, sparking consternation among Israel’s allies as well as threats by thousands of military reservists to stop volunteering for duty.
However, in the wake of Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel on October 7, reservists reported for duty in huge numbers.
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