Chairman of United Torah Judaism, Knesset member Moshe Gafni, left the Knesset building this evening (Wednesday) in protest over the fact that the coalition removed the override clause bill from the Knesset agenda.
According to a report by journalist Yiki Adamker, just before leaving the Knesset building, Gafni stated that he did not intend to participate in any more votes in the plenary today in protest of the removal of the bill.
Earlier today, the Chairman of the Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee, MK Simcha Rothman (Religious Zionism party), withdrew the bill, which was supposed to have been voted on in a preliminary reading in the Knesset plenum.
The bill was removed following claims from the opposition that the proposal cannot be promoted through a private track. Likud MK Hanoch Milwidsky prepared the bill. It was suggested that if the same proposal would be promoted through another track on behalf of the Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee, it would be acceptable.
The override clause states that the Knesset can overturn a Supreme Court ruling that a particular law is “unconstitutional” even though Israel does not have a constitution. If a law is deemed to contradict a Basic Law, a set of laws that define the separation of powers among the branches of government and define human and civil rights, the Supreme Court would call that law unconstitutional. In addition, the Supreme Court can conclude that a law is “unreasonable” and therefore should be struck down. The override clause would allow the Knesset to re-enact a law the Supreme Court struck down. Some of the debate concerns whether or not the override clause is legitimate and some concerns the minimum number of members of Knesset required to enact an override for it to be considered legitimate.