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What happened: Tens of thousands of Israelis protested in roughly 100 locations around the country yesterday after the government passed the “reasonableness” bill in its first reading as part of its judicial overhaul.

• Main roads were blocked in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem, leading to clashes with police and dozens of arrests. In the afternoon, over 10,000 protesters gathered at Ben-Gurion International Airport.
• Reserve members of elite units in the IDF have said they will not report for duty if the bill passes. Three hundred reservists in cyberwarfare units issued a letter arguing that passing the law to cancel the reasonableness clause is the first step in the transformation of the State of Israel into a corrupt, backward, and weak state and saying they were withdrawing from their voluntary military reserve service.
• In a separate incident, a group of pilots, who represented hundreds of others, told the head of the airforce that they “swore to serve the kingdom, not the king” and were also considering cancelling their reserve duty. Similar feelings were raised by members of the Flotilla 13 Navy unit and around 120 reservists in the Military Intelligence Directorate’s research department
• Defence Minister Gallant said such calls threaten the unity of the ranks, are dangerous, and are a reward for Israel’s enemies. “Refusal harms the IDF. Refusal harms the defence establishment. Refusal harms Israel’s security,”
• The Biden administration issued a statement urging authorities “to protect and respect the right of peaceful assembly.” Another White House statement said that “both US and Israeli democracy are built on strong institutions, checks and balances, and an independent judiciary.” Biden has sought to push the government to pass any legislation via consensus.

Context – What is reasonableness?: On Monday night, the bill the Knesset passed in its first reading (by 64 votes to 56, along party lines) bars the courts from using the ‘reasonableness test’ to invalidate or even discuss decisions made by the cabinet, ministers, and “other elected officials, as set by law.”

• The ‘reasonableness clause’ is intended to prevent a situation in which the government makes a clearly illogical and capricious decision without a serious attempt to take into account and balance the many relevant factors involved. It allows the courts to strike down government and administrative decisions which it considers have not taken into account all the proper considerations of a particular issue, (or not given the correct weight to those considerations). This is the case even if the decision does not violate a specific law or contradict other administrative rulings.
• Supporters of the government’s measure believe that it gives too broad a scope to the judicial branch to intervene in decisions made by elected officials, and argue that the court has been too active in its invocation of the principle.
• Critics argue that completely canceling this judicial tool would lead to a situation of almost no external restraints on the exercise of government power and facilitates further concentration of power in the hands of the executive
• During compromise talks at the President’s Residence, President Herzog reportedly proposed curtailing the application of reasonableness as part of a comprehensive judicial reform package. However, he did not propose to completely cancel it as per the current legislation, nor as a standalone measure as is currently the case.
• Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that cancelling the ‘reasonableness law’ would strengthen democracy. “Under court supervision, which will continue, the government will be required to act honestly, in a measured, fair and equitable fashion, he said.”
• Part of the government’s motivation in removing the court’s grounds of reasonability use is the reinstatement of Shas leader Aryeh Deri as a minister. The court cited the principle (along with the legal principle of ‘estoppel’) when blocking his appointment in January.
• Multiple cabinet ministers are also seeking the sacking of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, a move the court would likely block on reasonableness grounds as long as such a measure was available to it.
• For more on support for the government’s reform see Russel Shalev in Fathom Journal.
• For more on opposition to the government’s reform, see Suzie Navot in Fathom Journal.

Looking ahead: The Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee will be reconvened today to continue to prepare the bill ahead of its final second and third readings.

• Chairman of the Committee MK Simcha Rothman is pushing for the bill to be advanced without any changes saying that the bill was balanced and responsible “The grounds of reasonability is something the State of Israel got by without for many years. And believe it or not, the sun continued to rise every morning, even in those dark times.”
• Potential remains for a softening of the wording or the bill’s postponement that might limit but not cancel the court’s ability to review governmental decisions. Prime Minister Netanyahu reportedly said security tensions might postpone the bill’s final approval until the Knesset winter session.
• However, Likud members denied there was to be any postponement, with coalition officials have said their plan is to have the bill passed fully into law before the Knesset ends in late July for its summer recess.
• Protest leaders have vowed to increase their opposition to the government’s plans. In addition, Histadrut Chairman Arnon Bar-David said he would consider calling a general strike. “When I feel that things have gone too far, we will use our strength,” he said at a meeting with union leaders in Tel Aviv.