Israel’s Parliament dealt with judicial reform on Monday. Photo: AFP
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition gave initial approval on Monday to a controversial bill to limit the Supreme Court’s supervisory powers, in the context of a judicial reform that has polarized to the country and on a day in which protesters entered parliament to oppose the measure.
The bill is one of several proposed by Netanyahu’s ultra-nationalist and ultra-Orthodox allies in their push for judicial reform, that has already sparked months of opposition protests
Lawmakers held the first of three readings of a bill that would limit the high court’s ability to review the reasonableness of decisions made by elected officials.
* 100007* Such status was implemented by the Supreme Court earlier this year to void the appointment of a Netanyahu ally as interior minister due to a prior bribery conviction and a 2021 plea deal for tax evasion.
The project was approved this Monday in a parliamentary session that lasted until after midnight with a vote of 64 to 56, local media reported.
The initiative still must be approved in two more readings to become law.
Anti-reform activists called for a series of mass demonstrations across the country, including protests that could disrupt travel at Israel’s main international airport.
Earlier, several protesters entered the Knesset (parliament) to protest against the initiative.
Incidents in the Israeli Parliament at the start of a controversial debate on the standard of reasonableness
#Israel @KnessetT #Netanyahu @netanyahu @LikudParty @itamarbengvir @bezalelsm #IDF @IDF #MiddleEast #Jerusalem #Palestine #WestBank
See more: https://t.co/zDmzR6IjBt pic.twitter.com/H9vsnb5xiF
— ITON GADOL is Israel and the Jewish communities (@Itongadol) July 10, 2023
The establishment’s security agents forcibly removed the protesters, dragging several of them along the ground to move them away from the premises where the plenary session of the chamber was in session, which could approve the initiative this Monday in first reading, according to local newspaper The Times of Israel.
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana praised the work of officers in preventing a gang of criminals from disrupting the Knesset plenary session.* 100027*
The president of the Constitution, Legislation and Justice Commission, Simcha Rothman, instead defended a balanced and responsible law, which provoked protests from opposition deputies.
Three party deputies opposition centrist Yesh Atid were expelled from the plenary session due to interruption.
Netanyahu had defended in a video published before the vote that this initiative to eliminate reasonableness is not the end of democracy, but reinforces it.*100033 *
The government resumed processing the judicial reform proposal in parts while negotiations with the opposition are suspended.
Netanyahu’s allies defend their legitimacy to process the judicial reform based on their parliamentary majority , while the mobilizations and protests that began 27 weeks ago demand the total withdrawal of the initiative.
The government of Netanyahu, who took office in December, is the hardest-line ultra-nationalist and ultra-Orthodox government in 75 years of Israel’s history.
His allies proposed the sweeping changes to the judiciary after the country held its fifth election in less than four years, all of which were seen as a referendum on Netanyahu’s fitness to serve as prime minister while on trial for corruption.
