Israel’s Supreme Court strikes down judicial overhaul law
Al Jazeera
The majority of the court’s judges vote to strike down the law, saying it would severely damage Israel’s democracy.
Israel’s Supreme Court has struck down a highly disputed law passed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government that rolled back some of the high court’s power and sparked nationwide protests.
The law, passed in July, was part of a broader judicial overhaul proposed by Netanyahu and his coalition of religious and nationalist partners.
The legislation brought before the court had removed one, but not all, of the tools the Supreme Court has for quashing government and ministers’ decisions. It took away the court’s ability to void decisions that it deemed “unreasonable”.
Eight of 15 justices ruled in favour of nullifying the law, the court said on Monday.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin, a Netanyahu ally and the architect of the overhaul, lambasted the court’s decision, saying it demonstrated “the opposite of the spirit of unity required these days for the success of our soldiers on the front”.