Protests Fail, Democracy In Threat: Israeli Parliament Passes Law Restricting ‘Reasonable’ Power Of Supreme Court

Ignoring all the ongoing protests in the nation, the Israeli Parliament passed the highly controversial bill. The bill has the power to restrict the power of the apex court of the nation. This bill will be restricting the Supreme Court of Israel to overturn any unreasonable decisions taken by the government. It is the first in a controversial line of measures meant to limit the power of the courts.

Israeli Parliament going wrong

The very time this law was proposed, the public of Israel came onto the streets to protest against the law. As per critics, this law is posing threat to the very foundation of the idea of democracy. Supreme Court allows the nation to act in the right manner as it also has say in the decisions of the government.  After a contentious session, the third and final vote on the bill passed 64-0 with the contentious revisions demanded by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. However, the opposition boycotted it and left the chamber while yelling “shame.”

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Opposition fails despite all attempts

Despite numerous last-minute attempts in the Knesset to change the measure or reach a procedural agreement with the opposition, none of them were successful.

The parliamentary decision followed over 30 hours of nonstop floor discussion, during which both proponents and opponents of curtailing judicial checks on political authority staged large-scale demonstrations.

The provisions of the law provide that the courts are no longer permitted to examine the “reasonableness” of cabinet and minister choices, such as selections and the decision to forego using vested powers.

Demonstrators have been calling on the government to drop its divisive judicial makeover plan during the demonstrations because they believe it will make it more difficult for the courts to monitor decisions made by the executive and legislative branches.