Yes, it’s a clickbait headline, but it’s parallel to more situations than most similar headlines seen at National Zero: Saying the law would do “severe and unprecedented harm to the core character of the State of Israel as a democratic country,” the right-wing dominated Israeli Supreme Court has rejected an attempt by right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to weaken the Court’s power to check executive office power, the Associated Press reports.
Pushed through the Israeli parliament in July, the new law would have limited courts’ ability to use “reasonableness” as a benchmark to overrule decisions by government ministers. When the Knesset passed the law, tens of thousands of Israelis took to the streets in protest, wary that the law would give Netanyahu virtually unlimited power because it stripped significant potential oversight from the courts. The protests also included IDF reservists refusing to report for duty or if they did report, refusing to work.
The 8-7 decision by Israel’s Supreme Court–the first in Israel’s history in which a full 15-member panel ruled–puts the law and Netanyahu’s future in Israel at risk. Netanyahu had attempted to manipulate Israel’s court system to amass political power as he faced corruption charges that also include members of his family. In typical conservative fashion, Netanyahu’s Likud party decried the decision claiming that the Supreme Court’s decision would divide the country while it’s at war with Hamas and therefore, anything Netanyahu does should be legal because… patriotism.