“I hope it doesn’t come to that,” Netanyahu said in an interview with US broadcaster CNN, without saying whether his government would abide by a Supreme Court ruling. Should the court oppose the parliament’s decision, this could lead to a “kind of spiral,” Netanyahu said in the interview that was broadcast on Friday night.
Despite massive criticism, Netanyahu’s right-wing religious government passed a controversial law that takes away the power of the Supreme Court to take action against “extremely inappropriate” government decisions. The State of Israel has no constitution, but is based on a set of fundamental laws. The abolition of the so-called appropriateness standard is a change to one of these basic laws.
Abandoning the law could trigger a constitutional crisis
Never in Israel’s history has a comparable law been overturned by the Supreme Court. Such a decision would not be without controversy and could lead to a constitutional crisis.
The controversial change is part of a comprehensive government bill. Experts see this as a massive threat to the separation of powers and thus to democracy. Netanyahu’s government, on the other hand, accuses the judges of interfering too much in political decisions.
In an interview with ABC News on Thursday, Netanyahu said it was only a “minimal adjustment”. He described the opponents’ concerns as “silly”.
Editorial office beck-aktuell, July 28, 2023 (dpa).
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