Law, Power, and Justice

Sunday 26 March 2023

Night News Notes

Israel

Further civil unrest broke out in parts of Israel Sunday after Netanyahu fired his defense minister who criticized the imminent judicial overhaul and proposed that it be postphoned.

• There were not only protests in the streets, but universities have shut their doors and union leaders are hinting at a general strike.
• The legislation, scheduled to be pushed through early next week, would give the government more control over the selection of Supreme Court judges and limit the court’s authority over Parliament.
• Protestors broke through police barriers outside Netanyahu’s residence.
• In response to the legislation, military leaders had warned of a surge in military reservists’ refusing to fulfill their volunteer duty. 
• The dismissal is considered an indication that Netanyahu will proceed with a final vote on the legislation.
• The legislation is said by the government to be needed to give elected lawmakers primacy over unelected judges. 
• Critics say that it would remove one of the few checks on government wrongdoing.
• Demonstrations started within minutes of the announcement.
• There is a growing Palestinian insurgency in the occupied West Bank, “rising tensions with Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia; and fear of an imminent confrontation with Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip.”
• The dismissed cabinet member had been appointed instead of a more right-wing candidate and was considered to ease tensions with Washington which feared a more extreme member to oversee Israel’s powerful military which receives an enormous amount of US aid.
• One opposition lawmaker called Netanyahu’s move “an act of madness.” “Netanyahu is determined to drive Israel into the abyss.”
• Reservists have noted that they fear being given illegal military orders if the Supreme Court lacks the ability to oversee government activity.
• “The overhaul has become a proxy for much deeper social disagreements within Israeli society related to the relationship between religion and state, the future of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, and ethnic tensions among Israeli Jews.”
• “Orthodox Jews and settlers say the court has historically acted against their interests, and has for too long been dominated by secular judges. Jews of Middle Eastern descent also feel underrepresented on the court, which has mostly been staffed by judges from European backgrounds.”

Source:

The judicial overhaul

• The legislation would move decision making about Supreme Court judges to the control of the government. 
• This is the most right-wing and religiously conservative government in Israel’s history.
• The government wants to curb the Court’s ability to strike down laws passed by Parliament it deems unconstitutional.
• The 120 seat Parliament would be able to override court decisions with a 61 vote majority.
• Another provision would weaken the authority of the attorney general who is now independent of the government.
• Right-wing Israelis have long opposed limits placed by the Supreme Court on some settlement activities in the occupied West Bank.
• “Ultra-Orthodox Jews also resent the court for opposing measures that they value, including gender-separated public bus lines and wholesale exemptions from military conscription for all men enrolled in Torah studies.”
• Unlike other democracies, Israel has no written constitution.
• The court is the only check on government power.
• Critics say that Netanyahu was formerly a supporter of an independent judiciary.  Now, after an indictment on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, they say he is acting out of personal interest.

Source:

Recent Removal of Netanyahu Minister

The Supreme Court ruled that a close ally of Netanyahu should be removed from his posts after a conviction for tax fraud.

• The Minister, Aryeh Deri, leader of the ultra-Orthodox Sephardic party, was ruled against on the grounds of “extreme unreasonability” because of the conviction and suspended prison sentence.
• Netanyahu is himself on trial on corruption charges.
• As part of the judicial changes: “The government also wants to turn the legal advisers in government ministries into political appointees who would no longer answer to the attorney general.”
• “The Parliament rushed through a legal amendment after the November election to allow Mr. Deri to become a minister despite his recent conviction for tax fraud. As part of a plea agreement about a year ago, he received a suspended prison sentence.”
• “The Supreme Court judges wrote in their ruling that they had based their decision in part on the recidivism of Mr. Deri, who was first convicted in 1999 of taking bribes, fraud and breach of trust while he was a lawmaker and cabinet minister, and served two years of a three-year prison sentence. He was released in 2002 and returned to the political stage in 2011.”
• (Note: Netanyahu finally dismissed Deri at the end of January 2023).

Source: