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Knesset reconvenes with heated debate about new laws
The winter session of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, began yesterday with heated exchanges about new legislation.
Education Minister and Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett has proposed a new Basic Law to limit the ability of the Supreme Court to overturn Knesset legislation. Speaking at a party meeting Bennett said: “There are judges in Jerusalem who have forgotten that there is also a government in Jerusalem. In recent years, the High Court has placed itself above the legislature instead of alongside it,” he added.
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin officially opened the Parliamentary session with stark warnings about the impact of the some of the new legislation and the politicisation of state institutions. Rivlin said: “We are witness today to winds of a second revolution. This time, it’s the rule of the majority as the exclusive ruler… Instead of a reality in which ‘everything can be judged,’ a reality is growing in which ‘everything is political’. The media is political, democratic institutions are political – all of them, from the civil service to the State Comptroller, the Supreme Court is political, security forces are political, even our IDF is political?”
He also expressed concern over “a continued effort to weaken the gatekeepers of Israeli democracy”. He said that “there is an abyss between the responsible and courageous attempt to define, after years, the relations between the legislative and judicial branches, to draw borders for judicial criticism, ask questions about appointments, aim for a more varied and representative group of judges – and the attempt to terrorise the court, weaken it as an institution, and invite the public to undermine its authority and rulings”.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke after President Rivlin and highlighted the achievements of his government. He then criticised opposition parties, who he mocked, calling them “bitter”. The Prime Minister said: “Israelis know it’s good to live here. Israel is a beloved homeland, a warm home, and without a drop of cynicism, a wonderful country.”