Israel’s new government unveils plan to overhaul, weaken its Supreme Court

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s justice minister on Wednesday unveiled the new government’s longpromised overhaul of the judicial system that aims to weaken the country’s Supreme Court.

Critics accused the government of declaring war against the legal system, saying the plan will upend Israel’s system of checks and balances and undermine its democratic institutions by giving absolute power to the most rightwing coalition in the country’s history.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin, a confidant of Netanyahu’s and longtime critic of the Supreme Court, presented his plan a day before the justices are to debate a controversial new law passed by the government allowing a politician convicted of tax offenses to serve as a Cabinet minister.

“The time has come to act,” Levin said.

The proposals call for a series of sweeping changes aimed at curbing the powers of the judiciary, including by allowing lawmakers to pass laws that the high court has struck down and effectively deemed unconstitutional.

Levin laid out a law that would empower the country’s 120-seat parliament, or Knesset, to override Supreme Court decisions with a simple majority of 61 votes. Levin also proposed that politicians play a greater role in the appointment of Supreme Court judges and that ministers appoint their own legal advisers, instead of using independent professionals.

Levin argued that the public’s faith in the judicial system has plummeted to a historic low, and said he plans to restore power to elected officials that now lies in the hands of what he and his supporters consider to be overly interventionist judges.

“We go to the polls and vote, choose, but time after time, people who we didn’t elect decide for us,” he said. “That’s not democracy.” The planned overhaul has already drawn fierce criticism from Israel’s attorney general and the Israeli opposition, though it is unclear whether they will be able to prevent the farright government from racing forward.

Yair Lapid, former Prime Minister and head of the opposition, said he will fight the changes “in every possible way” and vowed to cancel them if he returns to power. “Those who carry out a unilateral coup in Israel need to know that we are not obligated to it in any way whatsoever,” he said.

In Israel, Supreme Court judges are appointed and dismissed by a committee made up of professionals, lawmakers and some justices.

Recent opinion polls by the Israel Democracy Institute found a majority of respondents believe the Supreme Court should have the power to strike down laws that conflict with Israel’s Basic Laws, which serve as a sort of constitution.