A close vote of 8-7 allowed the so-called Law of Reasonableness to be overturned, through which the competence of the highest judicial body in the country to annul decisions of the Knesset or Parliament and the Executive Branch was eliminated, an instrument that caused massive demonstrations that They drew attention to the autocratic drift that it entailed.
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The Israeli Supreme Court announced this Monday, January 1, the annulment of a key law of the controversial judicial reform that Benjamin Netanyahu's Government approved in July 2023.
The law, approved in July, prevented the Supreme Court from reviewing government decisions by applying the criterion of reasonableness, a doctrine that is applied in several countries and that allows establishing the constitutionality or legality of a measure, based on the study of whether it is reasonable or No.
The Supreme Court's ruling was based on the consideration that “it causes serious and unprecedented damage to the fundamental characteristics of Israel as a democratic State,” as the ruling states.
The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, did not speak this Monday, but his Minister of Justice and promoter of the instrument, Yariv Levin, described the decision as “the opposite of the spirit of unity required these days for the success of our soldiers in The front”.
The Supreme Court also voted more broadly, 12-3, to ratify its jurisdiction to repeal “Basic Laws.” important instruments that function as a kind of Constitution for Israel.
A controversial project
The right-wing governing coalition approved the key instrument of Netanyahu's judicial reform, the Reasonableness Law, by a vote of 64-0 in July, after opposition actors walked out of the 120-seat chamber at the time of the vote. vote.
The approval came despite months of protests across the country, which threatened to undermine not only support for Netanyahu, who took power in December 2022, but the military unity within his far-right coalition.
Fighter pilots and members of elite reserve units taking part in the demonstrations had threatened not to report for duty if the reform was approved.
Even within his government he found opposition to this package. In March, the president dismissed his defense minister at the time, Benny Gantz, for having requested the temporary suspension of the project, although the outbreak of violence that followed his decision forced him to reconsider.
Balance of powers or coup d'état
The Reasonableness Law is just the beginning of a package of reforms with which Netanyahu seeks to reduce the power of control of the judiciary.
Other parts of his project grant additional powers to the government in the appointment of judges and eliminate the figure of independent legal advisors in the ministries.
The president had to dismiss a key ally from the Ministry of the Interior, the ultra-religious leader Aryeh Deri, precisely due to an order from the Supreme Court based on the criterion of reasonableness, given the history of financial crimes for which the official was convicted.
The prime minister has said that with his reform he seeks to “balance” the powers, but his detractors consider it a judicial coup d'état.
With AP and EFE
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