JERUSALEM: Israel’s highest court convened on Tuesday to hear petitions to overturn a key element of the hard-right government’s controversial judicial reform that has sparked mass protests and divided the nation.
The high court’s full 15-member panel has begun hearing challenges to the so-called “reasonableness clause” amendment that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government pushed through parliament in July.
The amendment limits the supreme court’s powers to review and sometimes overturn government decisions, which opponents say paves the way for authoritarian rule.
As the hearing began, dozens of rowdy protesters gathered outside the courthouse, banging drums, blowing whistles, chanting and waving Israeli flags.
Opponents have gathered in the tens of thousands every week in cities across Israel since the government unveiled the plans in January.
Chief Justice Esther Hayut said eight petitions had been filed against the legislation restricting the “reasonableness clause”.
“It is clear that you believe that the duty to act reasonably extends to the government and its ministers,” Hayut said to a lawyer representing parliament.
“But who’s going to make sure they’re really doing it?”
Protester Batia Cohen said the government is ready to “destroy democracy” in Israel.
“This is the only country I have, and I have children, grandchildren, and I fight for them,” said Cohen, 63, who travelled to Jerusalem from the northern port city of Haifa.
“They (the government) want to be above the law, so the only thing that protects us from them is the courts.”
Thousands of protesters chanting “Democracy, democracy” also gathered in Jerusalem on the eve of the hearing.
“The amendment to the basic law that will be discussed in court today is not a basic law, it is an irresponsible document,” opposition leader Yair Lapid said on Facebook.
Netanyahu’s administration, a coalition between his Likud party and far-right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish allies, says the legal changes are needed to restore balance between politicians and the judiciary.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin, a key architect of the reforms, said Tuesday’s hearing was a “death blow” to democracy as the court considered for the first time overturning the Basic Law, the legislation that replaces the constitution in Israel. .
“A court whose judges are chosen behind closed doors and without a record puts itself above government, parliament, the people and the law,” he said in a statement.
“This is absolutely against democracy. It means that the court has no checks and balances. It is the sole ruler.”
While Netanyahu stated on Monday that he wanted to “reach a national consensus to restore the balance of power” between the government’s branches, Israeli media reported some steps towards a compromise between the administration and the opposition.
Israel does not have a constitution or an upper house of parliament, and the “proportionality” law was introduced to allow judges to determine whether the government has exceeded its powers.
The Supreme Court used the measure in a high-profile decision barring Aryeh Deri, a Netanyahu ally, from serving in the cabinet because of a tax evasion conviction.
He denies the accusation.
