The recent verdict by the Supreme Court to cancel the reduction of the reasonability standard has drawn a storm of public controversy.
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana commented: “It is obvious that the Supreme Court has no authority to cancel a basic law. It is even more obvious that we cannot deal with this while the war is ongoing.”
Justice Minister Yariv Levin commented: “The Supreme Court’s decision is the opposite of the feeling of unity we need during a war. They are taking into their hands all the powers that in a democracy are split between the three branches of government. A situation in which one cannot legislate Basic Laws or make decisions in the Knesset and Cabinet without the approval of the Supreme Court takes the votes of millions of citizens away and removes their basic right to be part of the decision-making process. This ruling, which is unlike any other in any Western democracy, will not weaken us. With the war being waged on several fronts, we will continue to act with restraint and responsibility.”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir commented: “While every day our soldiers are risking their lives for the nation of Israel in Gaza, the Supreme Court has decided to weaken them and strike at them first and foremost. This ruling is illegitimate and includes the cancellation of a Basic Law in a precedential manner, with no legal basis or authority for doing so, while the judges are in a conflict of interests. This is a dangerous incident, and anti-democratic. At this time, above all, it is a ruling that impinges the war effort against Israel's enemies.”
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi commented: “Hayut and her comrades are interested in one thing only, and that is reinforcing the aristocracy of the Supreme Court. In order for her to be known as the figure behind the judicial coup of the Supreme Court, she has rushed to produce a ruling embroiled in deep public controversy while many soldiers who are risking their lives for our homeland oppose the dangerous regime change at its basis.”
Education Minister Yoav Kisch commented: “The very act of debating the cancellation of a Basic Law by the Supreme Court is a blow to democracy. The decision to cancel a Basic Law, while two of the judges [who voted for it] have already left office and Israel is in a war, is a blow to the basic values of Israeli democracy.”
Sports Minister Miki Zohar commented: “I am disappointed that while our soldiers are risking their lives on the front to protect our homeland and all of Israel is united behind them, the spirit of divisiveness has once again returned to threaten us and send us back to the days before October 7th.”
“It would have been best not to announce a ruling like this during painful days like these, if only to prevent the return of divisive discourse to the nation. I know that many of my friends from National Unity feel the same pain over this ruling and the injury to their democratic votes, but we are obligated right now to bite our tongues, act responsibly, and preserve the unity of the nation. This is our obligation to the fallen, and we are required to do it for our future.”
Immigration Minister Ofir Sofer commented: “Publishing a Supreme Court ruling in this period is difficult, outrageous, and most of all disconnected. Nevertheless, I want to put it in proportion. We are still in the midst of a painful war and the challenge in the north is still ahead of us. The discourse must focus only on the war right now, on our shared struggle to exist. The divisiveness before the October 7th massacre will need to be dealt with in a different way, and absolutely not be reawakened, not rebuilt, and not cultivated. Otherwise we have not learned anything.”
Deputy Minister Avi Maoz commented: “The Supreme Court is detached, focusing on politics during a war. There is no more divisive and dictatorial body than the institution that cynically calls itself the High Court of Justice.”
Labor Leader Merav Michaeli commented: “Even the conservative judges have agreed today that the Supreme Court has the authority to override and cancel Basic Laws as well. There is no more clear statement to those who would destroy and demolish democracy. Israeli democracy will not give up. The reasonability standard will be a part of it. Israel is not a dictatorship.”
MK Matan Kahana commented: “A situation where a basic law is passed by a majority of 53% of the Knesset is unreasonable. A court canceling a law, especially a Basic Law, by a 53% majority, is also unreasonable.”
MK Yoav Segalovich (Yesh Atid) commented: “The Supreme Court has the authority to cancel a Basic Law, as 12 of 15 judges agreed. This is not a random majority, it is a concrete and clear majority of an independent court.”
The Likud party commented: “The Supreme Court decision is against the will of the people and unity, particularly during wartime.”
The Shas party commented: “The precedential Supreme Court decision to cancel a Basic Law of the Knesset, by only a one vote majority, is a troubling and painful incident, which continues to undermine the idea of separation of powers, It damages the standing of the Knesset, and reduces public trust in the judicial system.”
MK Michal Woldiger (Religious Zionism) commented: “The Supreme Court ruling has saddened me. Israel is at war and this is what you are doing? This is not the time for a controversial verdict that rests on a tenuous majority. This is not the time to awaken the divisive demons that were among us.”
The Kohelet Policy Forum commented: “Israel is united. Israelis from every political, ideological, and religious stripe are united today in an unprecedented manner. We are all mourning together, we, our children, and our brothers are fighting shoulder to shoulder and even the politicians are trying to reduce and minimize inflammatory statements and controversial points. It is extremely upsetting to see the Supreme Court choose specifically this moment when unity is so necessary to produce a verdict that will only incite controversy.”
The Kaplan Force anti-judicial reform protest organization commented: “Today, a battle for democracy has been won by the citizens of Israel. Right now, we must respect the decision and unite around the values of the Declaration of Independence.”
The left leaning Movement for the Quality of Government commented: “This is a historic verdict. The government and Ministers that tried to exempt themselves from the law have been told that there are judges in Jerusalem, that there is a democracy, there is separation of powers. The fortress, as Prime Minister Begin called it, is still standing. The Supreme Court has ruled today that the government and its leader cannot act in an extremely unreasonable manner. This is a historic day, a victory of grand proportions for the lovers of democracy.”
Former Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked commented: “Today, the Supreme Court has decided that it will cancel a Basic Law. The same Supreme Court has given Basic Laws their judicial status, and the same Supreme Court has ruled that its authority to carry out judicial oversight comes from Basic Laws. This ruling is legally shaky, politically crazy, and on the background of the state of the country, outrageous. I believe that in the current period while our soldiers are united on the front and hoping for unity back home, there is no room to publish such a divisive ruling as this.”
"Changes to the judicial system must be made with intense work, step by step, in an evolutionary manner, not with public declarations, tweets, and debates. The fact that a ruling was made by a one vote majority, when over the last few months it was possible to tip the majority in the Supreme Court towards a more restrained standpoint (since two judges who indulged in activism retired and could only sign laws till the end of next week), or at least to prevent such a ruling, has only increased the feeling that we are missing the point. The fully right-wing government is responsible for this second legislative coup. that is the truth. The painful results we see this evening speak for themselves. All you need to do is look at reality.”