Fresh Supreme Court bill will be launched on Wednesday, Israel’s Knesset says

By Maayan Lubell

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israel’s parliament will on Wednesday start work on a fresh bill that limits Supreme Court power to rule against the government, the Knesset said, risking renewed uproar over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposed judicial changes.

Netanyahu on Sunday said he would advance his government’s judicial overhaul after compromise talks with the opposition over the plan, which had plunged Israel into one of its worst political crises in years, were suspended by his rivals.

Netanyahu met with the heads of his nationalist-religious coalition government on Monday to discuss what they see as justice reforms that will balance out branches of government and end perceived court overreach.

After the meeting, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that the legislation will better define “Supreme Court authority to intervene in government and ministers’ decisions” by limiting ‘reasonability’ as a standard of judicial review.

Discussions on the bill will begin on Wednesday, the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee said.

Smotrich in his televised remarks echoed Netanyahu, saying the coalition will advance changes to the judiciary slowly and responsibly. Their government’s January-March judicial drive had prompted alarm abroad and spooked investors.

Unveiled soon after Netanyahu’s return to office, the sweeping judicial changes sought to curb Supreme Court powers and give the government more control over appointments to the bench in what opponents called a fatal blow to democracy.

The overhaul plan set off unprecedented protests, with critics of Netanyahu – who is on trial on corruption charges he denies – accusing him of trying to curb judicial independence.

With Israel’s economy bruised and Western allies voicing concerns for its democracy, Netanyahu froze the drive in March for compromise talks, which opposition leaders suspended last week pending the formation of a key panel for selecting judges.

Nonetheless, coalition lawmakers have indicated that the new bill would be a far softer version of previous government proposals that had sought to limit Supreme Court power to rule against the executive almost completely.

But any unilateral moves by the government to change the justice system would wreak havoc on Israel, opposition leaders said on Monday.

“Our democracy is in danger,” said Opposition Head Yair Lapid.

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