‘Privileged elite’: Netanyahu coalition attacks Supreme Court in constitutional showdown

Members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government attacked the Supreme Court on Tuesday, as the an unprecedented hearing on the coalition’s controversial judicial reform took place in the court. 

The Supreme Court was hearing a petition against the “reasonableness law” passed in Knesset in July, which removes the court’s ability to strike down government decisions and ministerial appointments deemed “unreasonable.”

Justice Minister Yariv Levin said that the very discussions of the possibility of invalidating Basic Laws, which are the top of the legal pyramid in Israel, and the possibility of incapacitating the prime minister “is a fatal blow to the rule of the people.”

Chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, Simcha Rhotman from Religious Zionism party, spoke before the 15 Supreme Court judges, whom he referred to as “a privileged elite” which won’t able to “protect rights in the long term.”

The Supreme Court, Rhotman claimed, has become “an oligarchic regime of a (small) group of people….. For many years, through a gradual process of legally sound arguments, the Israeli Supreme Court has taken upon itself powers unparalleled anywhere in the world.”

Supreme Court Justice Anat Baron asked Rhotman what would would happen if Knesset passed a law that denied Arabs the right to vote or postpones elections by ten years.

“If the elected parliament fails in its role, a remedy won’t be found in the hands of a group of individuals authorised to annul the elected representatives without being accountable to the public through elections,” Rhotman replied.

Supreme Court President Esther Hayut also raised criticism of the “reasonableness law”, asking: “Who will supervise that the government is indeed acting reasonably… ? There is law, but there is no justice.”

The unprecedented constitutional crisis over the judicial reform reached new heights on Tuesday morning, when a number of coalition members said that the Knesset wouldn’t let it be “trampled on” by the Supreme Court, hinting that it wouldn’t obey a court ruling striking down the “reasonableness law.”

Only three members of Netanyahu’s coalition have openly said they will respect the court’s final decision, including Defence Minster Yoav Gallant who has called on the government and opposition to reach a consensus on the remaining reforms.

Ahead of the court hearing on Tuesday morning, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said that the “reasonableness law”, which is an amendment to an already existing law, is an “irresponsible document on which someone wrote a ‘Basic Law. Whoever wants Basic Laws to be treated with reverence should start by enacting them properly.”