The Supreme Court on Thursday held a second hearing on petitions against the Incapacitation Law, passed as an amendment to a Basic Law in March. Israel’s Basic Laws have never been struck down by the court and the majority of legal scholars believe the Supreme Court does not have the authority to do so.
The Supreme Court held a first hearing on the law in August and then issued a temporary injunction against the implementation of the law.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin on Thursday slammed the fact that such a hearing is even taking. “The hearing that is taking place today in court is in actuality a hearing on the revocation of the election results. The meaning of delaying the implementation of the Incapacitation Law is that unelected officials can take authority for themselves which was never given to them and discuss the delusional possibility in itself of ordering a prime minister to incapacitate himself, in complete opposition to the election results.”
“The petitioners are actually seeking to impeach Prime Minister Netanyahu, in order to put an end to right-wing rule. They failed at the ballot box, and now they want to revoke the election results. The result of this is that Israel will no longer have democracy, but the rule of people who put themselves above the people, above the voters’ decision at the ballot box.”
The chairman of the Knesset’s Constitution Committee Simcha Rothman said: “The very existence of such a discussion in a democratic state is a very extreme act. It’s like the government holding a discussion on revoking the elections.”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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One Response
In any democracy (i.e. country where the voters think they get to elect the leadership), if the judiciary overrules the electorate, they are more or less saying that democracy is dead, and what comes next is anybody’s guess. That applies to both Israel and the United States, but is less of a problem in the United States since our judges are elected by the people or appointed by those who were elected by the people.
One needs to remember that the sharp divisions caused by a judicial putsch against the democratically elected leadership can serious disrupt a country, and while both the United States and Israel are facing the prospect a war in the foreseeable future, Israel is especially vulnerable.