Netanyahu's Justice Minister announces plans to undermine Israel’s judicial system

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Justice Minister announced on Wednesday a plan that will undermine the authority of the country’s judicial system, reported The Times of Israel.

Israeli Justice Minister and Likud member Yariv Levin’s plan would allow the far-right government to overrule decisions by the Supreme Court and pass it into law with a 61-MK majority.

Levin called his reforms “balanced and necessary” because the current system gives unelected officials, such as judges and legal advisors, too much power. “We go to the ballot box and vote but time after time people we didn’t elect make the decisions for us. It’s not democracy,” he stated.

However, according to The Guardian, many critics including civil liberties and human rights advocates have opposed the changes in fear for the country’s democratic system defending the court as a bulwark for minority rights.

Journalist Gidi Weitz warned, “If these steps are carried out we will have in Israel a change of governance from a partial democracy to outright authoritarian rule.”

Moreover, Israel’s former justice minister, Gideon Sa’ar, called the plan a “regime change” and warned that it would lead to an unprecedented constitutional crisis.

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Critics have also noted that Levin’s proposed judicial reforms could result in overturning of corruption proceedings against Netanyahu, who denies any wrong-doing.

Avi Himi, the President of the Israel Bar Association said “The timing of Levin’s announcement, a day before a hearing at the High Court of Justice on the legality of the appointment of Aryeh Deri as Interior and Health Minister, despite his criminal record, is certainly not coincidental and is an anti-democratic step in and of itself that is designed to threaten the justices of the Supreme Court and to do harm to their independence to decide to the best of their judicial judgement.”

Deri has been convicted of bribery and tax evasion and was forced to quit official posts, including the Knesset. However, a recent Knesset decision which has passed its second and third reading, amended the Basic Law and allows Deri and others who may face similar situations to be appointed as ministers, despite their convictions.

The new Israeli coalition government includes some of the extreme far-right parties. It was approved by the Knesset last week, amid regional and international fears of increased settlement expansion.