The Knesset plenum on Monday afternoon approved changes to the reasonableness standard, passing the bill with a majority of 64 Knesset members.
As the bill passed its second and third Knesset readings, opposition MKs yelled, "shame!" and "destruction!"
The reasonableness standard bill is an amendment to Basic Law: The Judiciary, and limits the ability of the court to rule against the validity of elected official's decisions that in a justice's subjective opinion are beyond the scope of what a reasonable authority would undertake. The reasonable standard had no legal basis in Israeli law but the bill to limit it is to be part of a Basic Law. It passed its first Knesset reading earlier this month, and is now being prepared for its second and third Knesset readings.
Ministers Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionism) and Yoav Gallant (Likud) pushed for a last-minute compromise, despite the harsh opposition by ministers Yariv Levin (Likud) and Itamar Ben Gvir (Otzma Yehudit). The two also pushed to delay the legislation for judicial appointments for a period of more than six months.
The Prime Minister weighed the suggestion and even stepped out to discuss it with a number of ministers, in an attempt to soften the legislation. The President's Residence was also involved in the negotiations.
The attempts to reach a compromise between the coalition and the opposition continued until the last moment, but opposition leader MK Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) announced that negotiations had failed and blew up the talks.
In light of the opposition's position, it was decided to continue to advance the bill as originally planned.