Israel Supreme Court Jerusalem (Wikipedia)
Israel’s Supreme Court on Sunday issued two significant and dramatic rulings in its ongoing review of a law passed earlier this year known as the “Fortification Law.” First, the court decided that a panel of 11 judges will hear the case over the law’s validity. (All of the members of the Supreme Court in Israel do not sit in on every case before it.)
Also, for now, the law is basically suspended in that the court ruled it cannot be enforced until after it issues its ruling in the matter, should it be upheld.
And the court also ordered that the government present to it a justification as to why this law, a Basic Law, went into effect immediately upon its passage by the Knesset and should not be delayed until after new elections and the next Knesset is seated.
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The law in question is called a Basic Law in that it deals with Israel’s form of government. Israel’s Supreme Court has made it clear that such laws should not be implemented mid-term.
The law in question also strips the Supreme Court of the power to order the removal of a sitting prime minister and states that once can only be forced to leave office due to health problems.
People petitioned the court to review this law because they feel that it was only passed to help Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hold on to power even should he be convicted of corruption charges. Netanyahu is currently on trial over several different charges. This is why some have described it as a personal law, a law passed just for the sake of one person alone.
The President of Israel’s Supreme Court Esther Hayut stated at a hearing held last week, “there is a very clear motive to put barriers against the removal of a certain prime minister to the fortresses. Doesn’t this ‘personalism’ reach the point of abusing the constituent authority?”
However, a lawyer representing the Knesset responded, “The content of this law is not personal, in the sense that it applies to the current prime minister, but will also apply to future prime ministers.”
The Supreme Court will hold another hearing on September 28, at which time the 11 justice panel will hear the government’s arguments in answer to the court’s demand for an explanation.
