Israeli Parliament clears Bill to curtail Supreme Court powers

Jerusalem, July 24

The Israeli Parliament on Monday approved the contentious “reasonableness” law that prevents judicial checks on political power after weeks of unprecedented protests that have crippled the country.

The Bill passed with 64 votes in favour and zero against it, with opposition boycotting the final vote on the Bill in protest. It is the first major Bill to pass in the government’s judicial overhaul.

Multiple last-minute attempts within the Knesset to amend the Bill or to come to a broader procedural compromise with the opposition failed.

A series of ideas for unilaterally softening the legislation, discussed by PM Benjamin Netanyahu and key coalition leaders even as the Knesset was preparing to vote, also led nowhere. The vote followed almost 30 hours of continuous floor debate that began on Sunday morning. During that period, hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets, both for and against curbing judicial checks on political power, a newspaper reported.

The Biden administration considers it “unfortunate” that the Israeli parliament ratified part of Netanyahu’s contested judicial overhaul plan on Monday, a White House National Security Council spokesperson said. — Agencies

Judicial overhaul

• The “reasonableness” law will remove the power of the Supreme Court to overturn government decisions which it deems to have gone too far
• According to the law’s text, courts are prohibited from exercising any scrutiny over the “reasonableness” of cabinet and ministerial decisions, including appointments and the choice to not exercise vested authorities
• The legislation has triggered one of the most serious crisis in the country’s history