Bibi's efforts to neuter Israel's judiciary gets smacked down (for now):
Israel’s high court on Monday struck down Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s polarizing law that sought to limit the court’s power over government decisions, putting the country on the brink of a constitutional crisis just three months after Israelis united behind the war effort in Gaza.
Netanyahu’s plans to overhaul the judiciary sparked nearly a year of widespread social unrest before the Israel-Gaza war. The unprecedented standoff drew international condemnation and extraordinary opposition from military and senior security officials. [snip]
Monday’s ruling concerned one part of the package, an amendment to Israel’s Basic Law — which serves in place of a constitution — that was pushed through and passed by Netanyahu’s far-right government in July. The altered law removed the right of the Israeli Supreme Court to block decisions made by government ministers that the judges deem “unreasonable.”
In striking down the law 8-7 on Monday, the top court’s ruling calls for the legislation to be removed. If Netanyahu’s government refuses to honor the ruling, the wartime country could face a constitutional crisis...
It's already been suggested that Netanyahu's prolongation of the war against Hamas is designed to keep him in power (and out of jail). The judicial "reforms" that Netanyahu wanted to implement would also help with the latter. We'll see if he'll abide by the decision, or if his personal survival instincts will cause him to deepen the crisis in Israel over the legitimacy of the government and the origins and prosecution of it's war against Hamas by ignoring the court's decision.
(Photo: Ronen Zvulun / AFP via Getty Images)
