Opinion
Could Crown Prince MBS hold the key to Israeli democracy?
Benjamin Netanyahu's biggest mission for his new government is to make peace with the Saudis
January 12, 2023 12:39
5 min read
Benjamin Netanyahu's biggest mission for his new government is to make peace with the Saudis
January 12, 2023 12:39“I think Yariv made a big mistake, taking on the legal establishment like this,” said a confidant and unofficial adviser of the justice minister this week. “Rolling out so many massive legal reforms in one go is simply opening a war which he can’t win.”
To help those less informed on the passions aroused by justice minister Yariv Levin’s plan, unveiled last Thursday evening, I’ll add that the legal expert quoted here insisted on anonymity, though he is usually happy to opine publicly.
This isn’t a moment when Israeli legal eagles want to be known for their friendships with Mr Levin.
The justice minister’s plan has become the main battleground over which the new Netanyahu government is going to fight not only the opposition in the Knesset but the legal establishment, the civil service and quite likely many thousands taking to the streets.
The outcome of this battle could decide the fate of the government.
Yariv Levin (Photo: Flash 90)
The plan includes: an “override clause” allowing the Knesset to pass legislation that the Supreme Court has ruled unconstitutional; changing the makeup of the Judicial Appointments Committee, which appoints the Supreme Court judges, so that politicians have a majority on it; and making the legal advisers of the government departments political appointees, answerable to their ministers rather than civil servants appointed by the Attorney-General as they are today.
Another detail of the plan is to cancel the ”reasonability argument” that has been used in the past by the Supreme Court to disqualify government decisions.
Can it pass?
Members of the coalition are convinced that with their current majority, and by pushing the first elements of it through the Knesset Justice Committee and holding votes in the current session, they can win.
The first committee meeting was held on Wednesday morning. Legal experts on the other hand (by that I mean those who have been following the tense dealings between the Knesset, government and judiciary for decades) believe that, just as in the past, the legal establishment will brazen out the politicians.
One professor of constitutional law who is not entirely unsympathetic to the calls for reform also criticised Mr Levin’s tactics.
“The court is not as monolithic as he’s trying to make it seem. On many issues, such as the government’s powers in the West Bank, it has been far from liberal. If anything, they’ve given the security forces near carte blanche,” he said.
“Some of the changes could certainly have been implemented by working quietly with the judges.
But instead Levin has powered ahead without any consultation and that’s made it much easier for the opposition to rally around the court and call it the ‘death of Israeli democracy’. He’s setting himself up for failure.”
He has certainly given the demoralised and fragmented opposition a joint cause, one so compelling that for a few days the party leaders of the former government even stopped squabbling among themselves.
An estimated 20,000 people gathered in the first large anti-government demonstration last Saturday night in Tel Aviv. Even more are expected this weekend.
Buoyed by polls indicating that a majority of Israelis are against the Levin Plan (at least a majority of Israelis who have an opinion on it), they have a new campaign.
But ultimately the question isn’t whether the opposition can sustain a prolonged protest movement and sway public opinion.
What is likely to decide whether or not Mr Levin’s reforms are implemented are the personal and political calculations of Benjamin Netanyahu.
His appointment of the loyal Mr Levin as justice minister would seem to indicate he has his full backing, but it’s never that simple.
In the past, Mr Levin refused offers to become justice minister because he didn’t believe he would receive backing for these reforms. Has that changed? And could it change back?
Mr Netanyahu usually makes his decisions at the last possible moment. No one knows for certain whether he has decided that the best way of getting off the hook in his own corruption trial is to go ahead and eviscerate the judiciary or to emerge at some point as protector of the court.
He may have given Mr Levin the green light for now, but will be continuously weighing up his options.
Benny Gantz (Photo: Flash 90)
