The Case Against Bibi's Judicial Reform Bill (A Stroock's Books Dissent)

A distant relative in Israel sends along the following argument against Prime Minister Netanyahu's judicial reform bill:

In the last few years the Israeli political system is in turmoil. It started when Bibi Netanyahu was indicted for charges of bribery and other charges. His trial is ongoing including three different cases. Since then the political system in Israel is divided into people who are willing to still have him as PM and those who are not. As a result in the last three years we had five elections. In the fourth election, the anti-Bibi group, consisting of 8 parties won by a small majority. They survived for about a year and then the government fell. In the last election in November 2022, Bibi's group won and formed a government. The Coalition has 64 members of Knesset and the opposition has 56. In the popular vote the numbers are very close. Bibi's main coalition partner is Aryeh Deri the head of the Shas party. He was convicted last year for tax fraud and in his sentence the judge decided not to send him to prison since Deri agreed to quit politics. He then decided to run anyway and did very well in the elections. Bibi then made him minister of the interior and the health minister. The Supreme Court ruled that he could not be a minister and he resigned. He is still running his party and the ministries unofficially.

The judicial revolution:

For many years Bibi and Begin before him and the Likud party in general were great supporters of the Supreme Court and the rule of law. This all changed when Bibi got in trouble. After the elections (in which judicial reform was not really discussed) he made Yariv Levin the minister of justice and Simcha Rotman the head of the judiciary committee in the Knesset. They started the judicial revolution. They are now ramming through the Knesset quite a few major changes to the main laws of the country. They can do this since they have a majority and without consulting with the opposition and without consulting with the experts in the relevant fields.

The main laws

1) The committee to choose the supreme justices. Currently there is a committee of nine people (three women) which include: three members of the coalition, one member of the opposition, two members of the bar (lawyers) and three members of the Supreme Court. To elect a person at least 7 have to vote for him/her. Thus, the politicians and the justices have a veto power and they have to negotiate to choose the justices. The new law will change this and let the coalition/government control this committee and thus they can pack the courts with their friends. In Israel the government is formed by a majority of the Knesset so the government and the parliament come from the same group. As a result of this law the checks and balances between the three parts of government will be eliminated.

2) In Israel we do not have a constitution but we have several special laws which can be called the Israeli bill of rights. In some rare cases the Supreme Court ruled against laws passed by the Knesset if they violated these rights. They would like to pass a law making it very difficult for the Court to cancel laws and if they do so, they can be overruled by a majority in the Knesset (61 out of 120).

There are also many other proposed laws, which are also quite problematic but we will concentrate only on these.

As a result of these proposed laws which will be passed by a slim majority the whole country is in uproar. There are large peaceful demonstrations all over the country. I myself participate every Saturday evening in a demonstration in our city of Haifa. Last week I even went all the way to Jerusalem to participate in a larger demonstration in front of the Knesset.

The main claim is that if these laws pass Israel will no longer be a democracy as there will not be an independent judiciary to balance the government (like in Poland, Hungary, Russia, and Turkey). Israel is as you know the high-tech country and the high-tech companies are supported by investments from abroad. It is therefore feared that if these laws pass this will have a serious effect on the Israeli economy. This is very worrying. Hundreds of leading economists worldwide, professors of law, military experts (former heads of the Mossad, ShinBet, IDF) all are very worried about this. Companies and individuals are transferring their funds to other countries. Moreover, many ex-Likud members do not support this revolution. Polls conducted in recent weeks all show that a large majority does not support the revolution. There are members of the Knesset from the Likud party who are also not happy with this but are afraid to speak since the head of the party in Israel is very strong and like many people before them they can find themselves out of the party.

The Israeli president which is basically a symbolic position is trying to get the government to negotiate with the opposition and the experts in the field to reach and agreed widely supported solution but to no avail.

Today Monday, the first rules will pass the first step in the Knesset. We will continue demonstrating and striking and let's hope this revolution will be canceled or at least modified considerably.