The leader of the Israeli opposition, Yair Lapid, announced this Monday (24) that he will appeal to the Supreme Court against the law approved today by the government, which limits the ability of the highest judicial body to review government decisions and represents the first major achievement of the judicial reform promoted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Tomorrow morning we will appeal to the Supreme Court against this legislation, the unilateral cancellation of the democratic character of the State of Israel and the undemocratic and predatory way in which discussions in the Knesset (Parliament) constitutional committee were conducted,” Lapid wrote on his Twitter account.
“They have not won, because the battle is not over, but is just beginning,” added Lapid in a televised address, in which he said the measure “violates the rules of the game” and urged participants in anti-government protests not to give up and await the Supreme Court’s decision.
The statements come shortly after Parliament approved, with 64 votes in favor and none against – the entire opposition was absent from the vote –, the law that annuls the “principle of reasonableness”, which allowed the Supreme Court to review and revoke government decisions.
After the vote, large groups of demonstrators moved to the Supreme Court building in Jerusalem, after protesting for several hours in front of Parliament. Others blocked the main arteries of the city, making it difficult to travel in the city.
“This is the most serious crisis we have ever faced and it was not caused by our enemies, but by an extremist and radical government”, denounced Lapid, who also accused Netanyahu of having become “a puppet of a group of extremists and messianics”.
In turn, the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, an important local NGO, announced that it has already appealed against the law in the Supreme Court because it is “an unconstitutional norm, because it fundamentally changes the basic structure of Israeli parliamentary democracy and the nature of the regime”.
The NGO further argued that, in practice, the law “repeals the judiciary and seriously undermines the delicate fabric of the separation of powers and the system of checks and balances in the State of Israel” and “gives unlimited powers to the Executive Branch”.
After the vote, Israel’s main trade union, Histadrut, announced that its president, Arnon Bar-David, had called a meeting with the organization’s leadership to start a general strike in protest against the measure.
In addition, the organizers of demonstrations against the reform, which have not stopped for more than seven months, have called new “emergency protests” in different parts of the country, which can last until night or even several days.
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