Photo Credit: Daphne Banky/Shatil Stock
For nearly a year before October 7, Israelis were protesting their far-right government’s attempt to strip the Supreme Court of key powers. Last week, the court pushed back.
When we heard the news, NIF’s International CEO, Daniel Sokatch, released the following statement:
“Yesterday we witnessed a major victory for everyone who cares about human rights, minority rights, and democracy in the State of Israel. The Supreme Court not only rejected the anti-democratic amendment to the “reasonableness clause” put forward by the current extremist government, but also affirmed, by a 12-3 vote, the Court’s power of judicial review of Israel’s quasi-constitutional Basic Laws—a powerful tool against future legislation to overhaul Israel’s constitutional system. With this decision, the Netanyahu government’s most recent and blatant attempt to eviscerate independence of the High Court of Justice may have ended—but the danger to Israel’s democracy remains, and Israeli civil society will remain vigilant.
“We are tremendously proud of our grantees, especially the Association for Civil Rights in Israel whose petition—which represented 38 human and civil right organizations—the Court accepted in this critical ruling. Should the ruling coalition, distrusted by nearly 80% of Israelis, now attempt to foment a constitutional crisis by refusing to accept the Court’s decision, we know whose side we will be on: the vast majority of Israelis, the vast majority of American Jews, and Israeli democracy itself.”
You can find our statement online here and an explainer video by our Senior Policy and Media Director Elisheva Goldberg here.