Israel’s highest court is to hear petitions in September against a divisive law weakening its power that the country’s parliament passed earlier this week.
Israeli civil society groups and others have filed petitions asking the Supreme Court to strike down the law enacted on Monday — the first major piece of legislation in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s broader programme to overhaul Israel’s judiciary.
The far-right government’s plans to limit judicial power have plunged Israel into its worst domestic crisis in years, unleashing widespread unrest and exposing the country’s deep social fissures.
Critics of the overhaul describe it as a blow to democracy, arguing that Israel’s judiciary represents the primary check on the powers of the parliament and prime minister.
Mr Netanyahu’s supporters say the law will prevent liberal, unelected judges from interfering with the decisions of elected lawmakers.
Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have poured on to the streets to protest against the plan for the past seven months.
While protests continue, opponents are also taking their fight to the Supreme Court — the very target of Mr Netanyahu’s overhaul plans — hoping that justices will intervene.
The Supreme Court said that it would hear challenges to the new law after Israel’s parliament, or Knesset, returns from recess in September. It asked the law’s defendants to submit a response at least 10 days before the preliminary hearing but did not specify an exact date.
The law passed on Monday specifically strips the Supreme Court of its power to block government actions and appointments on the basis that they are “unreasonable”.
It remains unclear how the court will respond to the petitions. The Movement for Quality Government in Israel, a good governance group, said its petition contends that the law undermines Israel’s core values as a democracy and was passed through a flawed legislative process.
“We are ready. We will appear in the Supreme Court to defend Israeli democracy and we will do everything we can to stop the coup,” Eliad Shraga, the group’s chairman, said on Wednesday.
The overhaul has also drawn concern from Israel’s closest allies. The Biden administration called the outcome “unfortunate” and the European Union said on Wednesday it was “following the developments in Israel closely and with concern”.
The United States and EU have expressed fears that pushing through the judicial overhaul in defiance of mass popular resistance could undermine what the countries routinely describe as their shared values.
“It is important that the core values on which our partnership are based are preserved,” the EU said.
Mr Netanyahu’s allies have vowed to press forward with more judicial changes after the parliamentary recess. Another planned Bill would give the parliament control over how judges are appointed.
The opposition party, Yesh Atid, along with pro-democracy groups, have filed a separate petition asking Justice Minister Yariv Levin to convene the powerful committee that picks the nation’s judges.
Both the governing coalition and the opposition traditionally are represented on the nine-member committee. But proponents of the overhaul have sought overall control of the committee, drawing accusations that Mr Netanyahu and his allies were trying to stack the judiciary with cronies.
The opposition sees Mr Netanyahu’s attempts to delay the committee’s formation as a backhanded way to enact part of the judicial overhaul without political consensus.
With Israel in turmoil, financial analysts downgraded the country’s credit ratings this week, warning that the fallout from the judicial overhaul could make the country less attractive to foreign investors.
“What’s happening now is just a fraction of the economic damage we are set to experience in the long run,” said Yannay Spitzer, economist at Israel’s Hebrew University.
