After 29 weeks of protests and massive public protests that have rocked the country and divided its citizens, the Knesset on Monday gave its final approval to a law that bars courts from reviewing the “reasonableness” of government and ministerial decisions, the government’s first major judicial reform bill to be passed into law.
The bill passed in its third and final reading with 64 votes in favor and 0 against, as the entire 56-member opposition boycotted the vote in protest.
The vote concluded a 30-hour continuous plenary debate, which began on Sunday morning. During that period, hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets for and against curbs on judicial scrutiny of political power, and US President Joe Biden sent his message. fifth message In a little more than a week, there will be a call on the government not to rush through constitutional changes.
Inside the Knesset, last-minute efforts to amend the bill or come to a comprehensive agreement with the opposition failed on Sunday after two rejected compromise proposals were presented by a union leader and President Isaac Herzog.
Immediately after the vote, Justice Minister Yariv Levin celebrated the legislation as “the first step in the historic process of correcting the judicial system”. Coalition leaders have publicly committed to continuing the process, with the next step being a bill to rebuild the panel that selects new judges, which is expected in the Knesset’s winter session.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid promised to quickly petition the High Court against the recently passed law, as did the Movement for Quality Government in Israel.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid addresses the Knesset plenum before the second reading on the “Rationality” bill on July 24, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Lapid, speaking minutes after the law was passed, said, “It is a complete violation of the laws of the game.” “The government and the coalition can choose which direction the state will go, but it cannot decide the character of the state.”
The plenum session before the decisive vote was tense and chaotic, with outcry over Lapid’s address, in which he insisted Israel was headed for destruction, and Levin’s speech, in which he dismissed the court’s reasonableness test as relying entirely on a subjective “worldview”.
Presenting the government’s position on the bill before back-to-back second and third readings, Levin argued that “reasonableness” is a vague legal concept that turns into personal opinion.
“Rationality is a worldview. This is not contract law, this is not evidence law, this is not a legal matter,” the justice minister said of judicial scrutiny, which is used as one of the main oversight tools for election periods and appointments and governments’ actions in general.
“You [judges] Do you want the nation to decide what is fair and what is not, instead of the people chosen by it? Is that fair?” Levin asked rhetorically. “I want to say even more – who even said that what is fair in the eyes of judges is also a logical thing? Who decided that his personal position was superior to that of the ministers?”
Justice Minister Yariv Levin addresses the Knesset plenum before the final reading of the “Rationality” bill on July 24, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Amendment to Basic Law: Judiciary, the law prevents courts from making any inquiry on the “reasonableness” of cabinet and ministerial decisions, including appointments and the option not to exercise vested authorities.
Proponents maintain that the law is a necessary corrective against the abuse of judicial power, while critics maintain that reasonableness is an important – and in some contexts, the main – check against improper use of public power.
Now passed, the coalition has more legal cover if it chooses to pursue three political goals endorsed by its members that would otherwise be blocked by the reasonableness test: sacking the attorney general or other guardians of the rule of law; not convening the Judicial Selection Committee until its composition is changed; and returning to cabinet the head of the ruling party, Aryeh Deri, who was disqualified by the court. However, the courts have other tools to review and potentially nullify those moves.
Lapid told the plenum before the vote that many coalition members were against the “rationality” bill, and urged them to stop the legislation as the final plenum vote was about to take place.
“Over the past few weeks, I have had hundreds of hours of conversations with people within the coalition. Don’t worry, I won’t name names, but you know who you are and you know the truth. You know something terrible is happening here,” Lapid said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) and Justice Minister Yariv Levin vote on the “rationality” law in the Knesset on July 24, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
National Unity Party head Benny Gantz reiterated Lapid’s point, and similarly claimed in the Knesset plenum that “there is a majority in this auditorium, and I know for a fact, that does not want this outcome.”
Lapid denounced the law as “a blatant as well as hostile takeover of the Israeli majority by an extremist minority”. [the Likud] team.”
“You know what is happening here is a disaster that could have been prevented. A tragedy that we must stop,” he said.
“You can stop it. It may not be what you had planned for yourself. It might not be what you came into politics for, but if you don’t stop it now, you’ll be awake at night for the next thirty years asking yourself why you didn’t do it when you knew it was the right thing to do,” Lapid said.
Shortly before the vote, Lapid announced via a televised interview that the talks were over, saying that the coalition wanted to “break the state, break democracy, Israel’s security, the unity of the people of Israel, and our international relations.”
Therefore, he concluded, “there is no way to continue working with them – because this is the most irresponsible government I have ever seen.”
Anti-overhaul activists block a road during a protest against the government’s judicial overhaul, near the Knesset in Jerusalem on July 24, 2023. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Gantz argued that the law, if passed, would damage Israel’s democratic foundations, economy, and security.
“I am deeply troubled by the security situation and what we transmit to our enemies,” said the former defense minister and army chief.
On Sunday, Gantz received a special briefing from IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi on military preparedness after a large number of reservists say they will pull out of voluntary duty to protest the judicial overhaul.
Protests were expected to escalate in Jerusalem and across the country after Monday’s vote, and overhaul supporters held a rally outside the Knesset on Monday evening.