Israel’s parliament approved a bill that will reduce judges’ ability to overrule government decisions and appointments.
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The move is part of a wider plan by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition to limit the power of the judiciary. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets in recent months, saying the overhaul threatens the country’s economy and security.
Last minute talks to find a compromise, led by the country’s president, failed to stop Israel’s far-right government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, from pushing ahead with the vote.
The third and final vote on the bill passed 64-0 after a volatile session. The opposition boycotted it in protest, and stormed out of the chamber after chanting “shame”.
The law, part of a wider effort to overhaul the judiciary, prevents the Supreme Court from striking down government decisions.
Proponents say the current “reasonability” standard gives unelected judges excessive powers over decision-making by elected officials. But critics of the government says it removes a key element of the court’s oversight powers and opens the way for corruption and improper appointments.
Ofer Kassif, an opposition Knesset member, told Al Jazeera that the current Israeli government is a “fascist one”.
“For more than 50 years, Israel has been engaging in an ongoing military dictatorship in the Occupied Palestinian Territories,” Kassif said, speaking from West Jerusalem.
There can be no democracy that engages in a military occupation, he explained, and currently there is a “penetration of the occupation system culture” into Israel.
“And now Israel is following this law, [which] is just the beginning. Other laws are expected [to pass] around the corner, and those are going to turn Israel into a fully-fledged fascist dictatorship in which the most fanatic and zealous components are in power,” Kassif said.
The massive, sustained democracy protests have shunned mention of Israel’s 56-year occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, fearing the issue might alienate supporters. But critics portray this rule over another people as a major stain on Israel’s claim to be a liberal democracy and accuse the protesters of harbouring a significant blind spot in their struggle.
After the vote, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, the architect of the plan, said parliament had taken “first step in an important historic process” of overhauling the judiciary.
Meanwhile, an Israeli political watchdog group said it would file a Supreme Court appeal against a new amended law.
The Movement for Quality Government in Israel said it would argue that the amendment was a de-facto elimination of the judicial branch and should be overturned by the court.
More mass protests were expected after the vote.
Earlier, demonstrators, many of whom feel the very foundations of their country are being eroded by the government’s plan, blocked a road leading up to the parliament, and big mall chains and some gas stations shuttered their doors in protest.
Further ratcheting up the pressure on Netanyahu, thousands of military reservists have declared their refusal to serve under a government taking steps that they see as setting the country on a path to dictatorship. Those moves have prompted fears that the military’s preparedness could be compromised.
“These are dangerous cracks,” military chief Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi wrote in a letter to soldiers Sunday meant to address the tensions. “If we will not be a strong and cohesive military, if the best do not serve in the IDF [Israeli army], we will no longer be able to exist as a country in the region.”
The vote came only hours after Netanyahu was released from the hospital, where he had a pacemaker implanted. His sudden hospitalization added another dizzying twist to an already dramatic series of events, which were watched closely in Washington. The Biden administration has frequently spoken out against Netanyahu’s government and its overhaul plan. In a statement to the news site Axios late Sunday, President Joe Biden warned against pushing ahead with the legal changes that were sparking so much division.
“Given the range of threats and challenges confronting Israel right now, it doesn’t make sense for Israeli leaders to rush this – the focus should be on pulling people together and finding consensus,” he told the site.
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