How ICC, Gantz led to ruling on settlements

The first petition to nix the Settlements Regulations Law was filed in February 2017, and a major hearing was held on the issue in June 2018.

With that timeline, why did the High Court of Justice wait to nix the law until June 9, 2020, and why specifically now and not a few months from now?

In short, there were three main factors: 1) waiting for formation of the national-unity rotation government; 2) developments before the International Criminal Court; and 3) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s push to potentially make some kind of annexation announcement at the start of July, which also ties back into the ICC issue.

What is so important about these three factors?

First, the key question always hovering over the High Court is whether the Knesset will attempt to pass a Basic Law to give it a veto over High Court vetoes. This would end or at least limit the court’s judicial-review powers.

Every time the High Court issued a controversial decision during the 20th Knesset, which disbursed in December 2018, the government started talking about limiting judicial review.

Throughout the three rounds of election that concluded with forming a government in early May, several parties campaigned on limiting judicial review.

In this environment, nixing the Settlements Law could have pushed the enthusiasm over

the top and maybe led to such a law.

But in early May, Benny Gantz’s Blue and White Party started to share the reins of power, including Avi Nissenkorn becoming justice minister and saying: “I will be a wall for the courts” against attacks.

This gave the High Court the