Israel's highest court's decision on Monday to strike down a controversial law weakening the judiciary sparked strong reactions in a country whose divided public had largely put aside political differences since the Hamas-led attack on October 7.
Before the Hamas-led surprise attack that left about 1,200 people dead and over 240 captured in Israel, Israel was in the midst of one of the biggest domestic crises in its history: a battle over the country's courts that brought hundreds of thousands to the streets in protest for months.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and his allies said the legislation was essential to reining in activist judges. His opponents said he was endangering Israeli democracy. Until Monday night's decision, Israel's war with Hamas had obscured some of the differences between the two sides.
Supporters of the judicial changes, including within Mr. Netanyahu's right-wing ruling coalition, condemned the court's decision.
Mr. Netanyahu's Likud party said the decision was “contrary to the nation's desire for unity, especially in times of war.” In a statement, it criticized the court for ruling on the matter when Israeli soldiers “fight and endanger themselves in combat.”
Yariv Levin, the Israeli justice minister widely seen as the architect of the reform, vowed to resume efforts to pass the legislative package that included the law once hostilities end. He accused the Supreme Court of sowing division amid ongoing hostilities.
“The Supreme Court justices’ decision to release their ruling in the middle of war is the opposite of the spirit of unity we need these days so that our troops can thrive on the front lines,” Levin said. “A state in which it is impossible to enact a basic law or make a decision in the Knesset without the consent of the Supreme Court justices deprives millions of citizens of their voices.”
Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right ultranationalist and Israel's national security minister, said the ruling was illegal and “a dangerous, anti-democratic episode – and, above all, a ruling that harms Israel's war efforts against its enemies.”
For opponents of reform, it was a long-awaited victory – albeit one that raised fears that the country could slide from wartime unity into deep internal divisions. Yair Lapid, the parliamentary opposition leader, praised the court for “faithfully fulfilling its duty to protect the Israeli people.”
Kaplan Force, one of the activist groups that organized protests against judicial reform, welcomed the Supreme Court's decision and called on all parties to abide by the ruling. “Today a chapter in the fight to protect democracy ended – with a victory for the citizens of Israel,” the group said in a statement.
“We stand behind the independence of the Supreme Court, respect its decision and call on everyone to refrain from division and hatred,” said Brothers in Arms, an anti-overhaul group formed by reserve soldiers. “After October 7, Israel can no longer return to the divisions and chasms between parts of the nation.”
Women's groups that led the protest movement against judicial reform because they believed women would be the first to be harmed welcomed the ruling. The Supreme Court has endorsed equal rights for women in several areas, facilitating lawsuits over unequal pay, overturning the Army's ban on female fighter pilots and ruling that mandatory gender segregation on public trains and buses is illegal.
“Since last year, we have been warning about the threat the law poses to women,” said a statement from Bonot Alternativea, or Building an Alternative, a pro-democracy group and nonpartisan umbrella group of women’s organizations. “We bless the Supreme Court and its President Esther Chayut, who has stood firm in preventing the erosion of human rights and personal freedoms in Israel.”