Israel’s Parliament advances controversial Bills for judicial reforms: What they propose

“Members of the coalition – history will judge you for this night,” Yair Lapid, the leader of the opposition said on Twitter, adding that the government is tearing the people of Israel apart.

What are these Bills?

The first Bill aims to take away the Supreme Court’s power to strike down Israel’s Basic Laws, “which function as the country’s constitution”. This power to review the legality or ‘reasonability’ of laws is analogous to the power of judicial review vested with the Indian courts.

The other Bill allows the government to choose judges by altering the composition of a collegium-like “nine-member committee that selects judges”. The government’s aim behind this is to reduce the influence of legal professionals and give elected representatives and appointees of the government an “automatic majority”.

Both Bills increasing government control over judicial appointments and blocking courts from reviewing Basic Laws have been approved in their first readings, the Times of Israel has reported.

How do Bills become laws in the Knesset?

The procedure for the passage of Bills in the Knesset is marked by three readings of the Bill, of which this is the first one. “After a bill is approved in the first reading, a Knesset committee prepares it for the second and third readings or proposes to remove it from the agenda,” as laid down in the legislative process mentioned on the parliament’s website.

Once the committee approves a Bill for a second and third reading, the committee holds another debate on the Bill, followed by voting separately on both readings. Only after passing all readings in the Knesset “plenum” or committee, can a Bill become a law in the Book of Laws of the State of Israel.

Both “judicial reform” Bills will now return to the Knesset’s Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee for discussion and will be followed by second and third readings, which must be cleared to ultimately pass the laws.

Why is the government pushing for these laws?

According to The Guardian, protests in Israel are a weekly sighting on Saturdays since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right allies came to power in December 2022. However, after Justice Minister Yariv Levin, a close confidant of Netanyahu unveiled the ruling coalition’s proposal to overhaul the country’s legal system in the first week of January, the protests intensified.

The plan included four major changes. Besides the two Bills, the government wanted to enable the 120-member parliament to override any Supreme Court judgment by a simple majority of 61 votes unless the verdict is unanimous. The plan also proposed a law that would allow ministers to choose their own legal advisors instead of using independent professionals.

The ruling coalition in Israel views the judiciary as a left-leaning obstacle to its legislative agenda. Moreover, Netanyahu’s government has claimed that Israelis have lost faith in the legal system and that its reform plans would restore power to elected representatives instead of “interventionist judges”

According to the Associated Press, the government seeks to use the power to override the Supreme Court to get rid of rulings “outlawing Israeli outposts on private Palestinian land” and curtailing social reforms, including those impacting the LGBTQ community.

“Experts also suggest that the proposed reforms in the judiciary might be used by the ruling parties to influence Netanyahu’s corruption trial, which is currently being overseen by Israel’s Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara. Although the changes wouldn’t directly impact the ongoing court case, many fear it is just the beginning and the government would later alter the laws to exonerate Netanyahu,” the Indian Express reported last week.

What reactions are the Bills invoking?

Besides the widespread protests by Israel’s population and the opposition parties, critics fear that these “judicial reforms” will give the legislature unbridled power and immunize it from any system of checks and balances. However, its supporters stress the need to take away power from an unelected judiciary and instead hand it over to elected legislators who represent the will of the people.

The Bills were passed amidst objections from US president Joe Biden who told the New York Times that “building consensus for fundamental changes is really important” and even from Israel’s own president, Isaac Herzog who urged to halt the legislative process regarding the judicial reforms so that a compromise can be arrived at.