This has been an intense week for Israel and probably everybody is happy that the three-day Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New-year) is here, to give people time to rest and calm down. Even if it is way too early to calm down for the thousands of people that have been fighting to save the Israeli Democracy from the group of fascists and racists that calls itself the Government, and who have been actively attempting to destroy the Israel as we know it.
The marathon session of the Supreme Court on Tuesday, with an unprecedented fifteen judges hearing petitions against the law that was recently passed by the Knesset and which limits the power of the Court to control the government and its actions however absurd they may be.
Simcha Rothman is the current chairman of the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee and together with Justice minister Levin, the architect of the current Judicial crisis, and aiming to destroy Israeli democracy. Rothman was one of the respondents to the petitions at the Supreme Court and just hearing him speak was sufficient to understand he would prefer the Supreme Court to disappear altogether. Rothman spoke of a group of elitists that instead of protecting rights of the people is interested only in protecting their own rights. He called the judges oligarchs, it being unclear if he meant the Russian model of “oligarch” or the more general definition of “a small group of people controlling an entire country”. Either way it was a shameful performance by an Israeli Knesset member who should have been stopped by the judges and rebuked by the Knesset speaker Ohana, except that Ohana also has intentions to get rid of the Supreme Court.
However, the ultimate shame and embarrassment for the State of Israel came when the lawyer representing the government (after Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara refused to represent the government), Ilan Bombach, dismissed the Declaration of Independence as “a “hasty” document endorsed by unelected signatories that cannot be a source of legal authority”. No explanations or arguments can justify the utter disdain expressed by Bombach regarding the document on which the State of Israel was founded (even if it has been regarded by the current government in similar ways).
In between these embarrassing performances of government representatives, the main issue, the Reasonableness Clause, was discussed at length and from all points of view, but in the end the law itself is not the major topic in this controversy.
The “Reasonableness Clause” was passed by the Knesset as a “Basic Law”. A Basic Law is the Israeli alternative to a constitutional law, since Israel does not have a Constitution (which is a scandalous story in itself). A Basic Law needs to be passed in the Knesset with an absolute majority and there are currently only fourteen Basic Laws. The Supreme Court, which has the authority to cancel laws that are in conflict with these basic laws, (in addition to additional options) has not until now, cancelled or changed Basic Laws and the involvement with the “Reasonableness Clause” would be a precedent.
The discussion of whether the court has the authority to interfere with Basic Laws is a heavy judicial one and for the majority of people most likely incomprehensible. Does the Knesset need to authorize the Supreme Court to judge “Basic Law” validity? Is the court itself allowed to decide it has the right to prevent the passing of Basic Laws or amendments to such laws? The answer is for now unclear and will probably be discussed in law schools for generations to come, even if Israel finally gets a Constitution.
But the direct result of this discussion may have dire consequences for the State of Israel and its citizens. Because, the government, with the help of the Knesset, has found in the discussion on the status of Basic Laws a very convenient tool to circumvent the Supreme Court. Any law that the government wants to pass but knows it is problematic from a judicial point of view, will simply be presented as a Basic Law and subsequently passed by a docile Knesset which is completely controlled by the government.
Thus, the first major example of this “escape route” is the Conscription law. The Ultra-Orthodox parties, who form a significant part of the current government coalition, have demanded that in the new Conscription law, Haredi youth will be almost completely exempted from military service and allow them to study Torah as a “viable alternative” to defending Israel from its enemies. And even if they do not study Torah (which most of them don’t) they will prefer to let others die for their country.
And of course this would be only the beginning. The possibilities for religious and corrupt laws are endless and the Supreme Court, nor the people, would not be able to prevent any of it and we may soon find ourselves in a Halacha Country, with a small number of “Oligarchs” controlling their lives.
So no rest for the demonstrators trying to save Israel.
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