While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday continued to defend sweeping judicial reforms, which his Likud party cites as a necessary and publicly backed step in rebalancing political and judicial power, key opposition figures urged Israelis to take to the streets to fight it what they called for democracy-destroying measures.
“What we’re trying to do is bring Israel back into the right balance between political and legal authorities,” Netanyahu said, claiming that his government’s reforms would share Israel’s power in ways similar to those in the United States and European countries. The multi-point plan to increase political power over the judiciary “does not destroy” democracy, but “rehabilitates” it, he said.
At the start of Likud’s weekly Knesset faction meeting, Netanyahu added that “we have received a clear mandate from the public” to implement plans announced by his coalition during the elections, including judicial reform. “We are not afraid of the unilateral media campaign against us,” he added.
But Benny Gantz, who leads the opposition centre-right National Unity party, said at his faction meeting that the government’s judicial reform plan will lead to a “civil war”. He called on the public to take to the streets legitimately, adding: “It is time to take to the streets and demonstrate en masse; It is time to shake the country.”
Opposition leader Yair Lapid echoed Gantz’s harsh criticism of the government’s judicial overhaul plan, warning that “this is extreme regime change” and that the reforms “eliminate democracy”. Speaking at the start of his centrist Yesh Atid party’s faction meeting on Monday, Lapid vowed to keep fighting in the streets in what he called the “war for our homes”.
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Last Wednesday, Netanyahu-aligned Justice Minister Yariv Levin unveiled what Levin called the first phase of the government’s sweeping reform plan, which includes creating an override mechanism for the Knesset to reinstate laws that the court had invalidated, political control over the Appoint judges and exercise the power of the court to debate the “reasonableness” of government decisions and limit the independence of state legal advisers.
National Unity Party leader Benny Gantz speaks during a faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem January 9, 2023. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)
With a majority of 64 of the 120 Knesset MPs in their right-wing religious coalition, Netanyahu, Justice Minister Levin and their coalition partners have pledged to continue their reform agenda despite a volley of criticism from the attorney general, former Supreme Court justices and opposition politicians, all of whom warn that the changes will harm democracy and endanger civil liberties.
“If you continue on the path you have taken, you will be responsible for the civil war in Israeli society,” Gantz said in a comment to the government. The former defense secretary added that the judicial review plan will have “fatal implications for national security – both in terms of the resilience of citizens across all segments of society and in terms of the ability of the Supreme Court and the legal system to do our legal.” to be the Iron Dome to the world.”
Alluding to concerns that Netanyahu’s desire to end his ongoing corruption trial has prompted his Likud party to press ahead with judicial reform, Gantz warned that such moves would leave the country “democratically hobbling.”
“If you believe that you have been wronged legally, do not correct it with injustice to the State of Israel and Israeli society. This is an anti-patriotic and anti-Zionist act,” he added in a personal appeal to Netanyahu.
Israelis protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government on January 7, 2023 in Tel Aviv’s Habima Square. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Gantz said “liberal right-wingers who love the state” should “be the first to go out and protest” for what they believe in – “not against Netanyahu or against the government, but against the destruction of democracy and do it unbridled.” destructive train”.
In response to Gantz, Netanyahu accused his former political partner of “sowing the seeds of disaster” by calling the public onto the streets without condemning protesters who likened Netanyahu’s government to Nazis.
“I heard what MK Gantz said and I have to say I’m shocked,” Netanyahu said during the faction meeting in a clip released by a Likud spokesman. He added that Gantz’s comments were “a call for hate speech with the Knesset.”
A large protest Saturday night in Tel Aviv against the government’s judicial reform platform included placards comparing the government and justice minister to Nazis, behavior Gantz has yet to publicly condemn.
“If someone does not condemn the comparison of the Minister of Justice to a Nazi and the government of Israel to the Third Reich, he is the one sowing the seeds of disaster. I urge you, Benny Gantz, take it back immediately,” Netanyahu added.
Posters blaming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) for political violence and comparing Justice Minister Yariv Levin (C) and her government to Nazis during a political protest in Tel Aviv January 7, 2023. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
Netanyahu’s allied Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich also hit back at opposition politicians who accused his camp of inciting civil war, claiming the government’s judicial reform plan aims to “strengthen Israeli democracy” and restore public trust in the courts.
Minutes after Gantz warned that the judicial reform plan unveiled last week would bring Israeli society to the brink of collapse, Smotrich said, “It’s doubly sad when harsh words and threats of civil war come from the highest ranks.”
At the beginning of the faction meeting of his far-right Religious Zionism party, Smotrich demanded that “everyone stop the inflammatory and inciting discourse immediately”.
“From time immemorial, then as now, the nationalist camp has said no to civil war,” he added.
Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman, chairman of the Knesset’s influential Committee on Constitution, Law and Justice, is a key figure in pushing through the Levin-led coalition judicial reform plan.
Lapid reiterated previous statements on the issue, saying the judicial reform package “represents extreme regime change, nullifying the Declaration of Independence and cutting Israel off from the family of liberal nations.”
“A country where the government can do anything is not a democracy,” the opposition leader added. “A government that overrides all existing controls on power in the course of a morning is not a democracy.”
Yesh Atid Party leader Yair Lapid speaks during a faction meeting in the Knesset on January 2, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Gideon Sa’ar, former Justice Minister of National Unity MK, attacked the government’s plan to give politicians ultimate control over judge appointments, warning that “ulterior motives and political considerations” would now determine the identity of Israeli judges.
“Every judge will know who they owe, and every litigator before them will know who owes it,” he added. “This is a surefire way to corrupt our justice system.”
As Justice Minister, Sa’ar increased the panel’s transparency by making the Judicial Selection Committee hearings public. Previously, as Likud-MK, he balanced appointment power between politicians and professional representatives.
Sa’ar also said that an override clause allowing the Knesset to re-enact laws struck down by the Supreme Court — the centerpiece of the government’s judicial reform plan — should require a “special majority,” though he didn’t give an exact number.
Sa’ar suggested a line similar to that of his party leader, Gantz, whose proposal to create a comprehensive judicial reform package was rejected by the government, adding that “it is certainly possible to regulate the balance between powers” through the Basic Law, which supports the judiciary.