Some 10,000 protesters gathered on Thursday night opposite the supreme court in Jerusalem in a show of support for the right-wing government’s judicial overhaul, a few days before a crucial supreme court session which may overturn a key element of the government’s plan to curb the powers of the court.
Protesters waving Israeli flags held banners at the gathering, reading “The people voted for judicial reform” and “The court won’t cancel me”, but the turnout was a disappointment for the organisers.
Addressing his speech to supreme court president Esther Hayut, far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said: “Don’t dare overturn a basic law. This is overstepping your authority and this is the end of Israeli democracy.”
All 15 Israeli high court justices will sit on the bench next Tuesday to hear petitions against a law passed in July which bars the court from overturning government decisions based on their “reasonableness”. If the court votes to restore the reasonableness clause, Israel will be facing an unprecedented constitutional crisis.
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Opponents of the judicial overhaul claim the measures will undermine Israeli democracy by shifting power from the judiciary to the executive. Hundreds of thousands have participated in weekly protests for the past eight months.
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Thursday night’s pro-government demonstration came a day after the speaker of Israel’s Knesset parliament, Amir Ohana, issued a clear threat to the high court not to overstep its authority.
Mr Ohana, from Binyamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party, said he was “putting a red light” over the court striking down a basic law, the closest Israel has to a constitution, terming Tuesday’s court session a “new, dangerous crossroads that is liable to send us tumbling into the abyss”.
“The Knesset will not submissively accept being trampled,” he warned. “I suggest to the court and to its judges: recognise the limitations of your power as well, not just those of the other branches. Recognise that in a democracy, no branch is all-powerful.”
The shekel plunged in value against the dollar and the euro following Mr Ohana’s comments.
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President Yitzhak Herzog, who has taken the lead role in trying to forge a compromise and avoid a constitutional showdown, renewed his call on Wednesday for a dialogue between the sides. “Now is the time to act responsibly, to look reality in the eyes and to do whatever it takes to reach broad agreement,” he said.
However, earlier this week opposition leaders refused to renew discussions. They dismissed reports of progress towards a compromise as “spin” from Mr Netanyahu, who, they claim, was desperate to cancel Tuesday’s court session and hopefully to receive a White House invitation from US president Joe Biden, in advance of a visit to the United States later this month.
