Judge Tzvi Segal
Judge Tzvi Segalצילום: בתי במשפט

Retired Deputy President of the Jerusalem District Court, Judge Tzvi Segal, said in an interview which will be published in Israel Hayom on Friday, "The override clause is necessary".

While Segal himself is not a big supporter of the clause, he thinks that theirs no choice other than to write it into law: "The Supreme Court has to have the final say. If there is a law that the Knesset is making that would harm rights, it's dangerous if a 61 MK majority can override the court. Yet, some correctly claim that 61 MKs represent the majority of the nation and they can override the Supreme Court, they can take the authority, that they themselves gave the court, away. Without a constitution, I suggest giving the Supreme Court the power to disqualify laws but making it difficult so that the disqualification will be by an expanded composition of judges and a more significant majority, for instance, 13 judges out of 15."

The override clause is an amendment aimed at enabling the Knesset (the legislative branch) to override Supreme Court (judiciary) reversals of laws it enacts. The clause is one of the hot-button issues surrounding the coalition talks, with the smaller right-wing parties refusing to sign a coalition deal with the Likud without some sort of promise to pass the amendment, with a requirement of a minimum 61 MK majority to override.

On the left there has been criticism of the amendment, outgoing Defense Minister and National Unity party chairman Benny Gantz accused Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu of 'attacking democracy' over his intention to advance the passage of an Override Clause which would allow the Knesset to overrule a Supreme Court decision to strike down a law with a simple majority of 61 MKs.

He said that he would be willing to support an Override Clause which required a supermajority of two-thirds of the Knesset to override a Supreme Court decision to strike down a law, but reiterated that doing so with a simple majority would split the nation and trample minority rights.

"What Netanyahu is seeking to carry out here is a ‘corruption revolution,'" he said. "I say to the members of the future coalition - what will happen the first time you override the Supreme Court with a majority of 61, and one minority or another feels that they are not part of the state? Whoever does this is acting in the name of corruption."

“When you overrule the Supreme Court by a majority of 61 — half of the people — you will feel that this is the government of half the people," Gantz said.