The Israeli parliament has passed a law increasing political control over the appointment of judges, a key element of the right-wing coalition’s judicial overhaul.
After a marathon debate in the Knesset, the measure passed 64-0 following a boycott by opposition lawmakers, and will come into effect when the next parliament is elected.
The new legislation reduces the influence of judges and removes members of the Israel Bar Association from the panel that selects them. The judges’ selection committee will now comprise three supreme court justices, the minister for justice and another minister, one government Knesset member and one opposition lawmaker, and two civilian representatives who are lawyers – one chosen by the coalition and one by the opposition.
Demonstrations against the measure were held outside the Knesset and elsewhere across Israel, the culmination of eight days of consecutive protests. Critics described the Bill as an attempt by the government to seize control over the judiciary.
Minister for justice Yariv Levin argued that the measure was an attempt to address a constitutional imbalance that granted excessive power to the judiciary. He said elected officials should have the ability to influence the election of judges and people should not find, after voting for the Knesset, that their vote “has been taken by the courts”, or that the government’s ability to govern “has been taken away from it”.
Opposition party Yesh Atid and pro-democracy non-governmental organisations petitioned the high court against the legislation, and opposition leaders published a joint statement saying they would repeal the law when the next Knesset is elected.
“The Israeli government passed a law that has one objective – to ensure that judges are subjected to the will of politicians. In the next government, we will annul the law,” the opposition leaders said. “We will reinstitute the judicial appointment process as a fair and professional committee.”
The first year of prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s coalition government in 2023 was dominated by efforts to shift the balance of power away from the judiciary to the executive. Opponents of the radical reforms claimed the measures would undermine Israeli democracy by weakening the traditional system of checks and balances, and hundreds of thousands took part in weekly protests.
In response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7th, 2023, the coalition suspended the judicial overhaul legislation and urged the country to unite around the war effort.
But in recent months the coalition has renewed the legislative drive while acting against key independent gatekeepers critical of the government. Ronen Bar, the head of the Israel security agency Shin Bet, was dismissed and efforts are also under way to replace attorney general Gali Baharav-Miara.
Mr Netanyahu, addressing the Knesset, denied democracy was under threat. “Democracy isn’t in danger; rule by bureaucrats is. The deep state is. A small group of bureaucrats who are fighting to retain control over the levers of state power. In a democracy, the people are sovereign; that demands that their votes at the ballot box gain expression in terms of policy,” he said.
It has been a good week for Mr Netanyahu. The Knesset also passed the 2025 state budget with relative ease after the far-right Yotzma Yehudit, Jewish Strength party rejoined the coalition in response to the decision to resume Israel’s war on Gaza, after quitting in January when a ceasefire was declared.
Following the Knesset spring break, the coalition will likely renew efforts to cut funding to Israel’s public broadcaster, Kan, and close down its news section.
