It seems that the battle of the right-wing parties against the Supreme Court is kicking up a notch as we approach the last year of the current government. The decision of the Supreme Court justices on Oct. 18 to allow (past) boycott, divestment, sanctions (BDS) activist Lara Alqasem to enter the country, reversing the interior minister’s decision to deport her, has raised the bar for the right-wing coalition’s attack on the Supreme Court. Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan tweeted that the Supreme Court gave the BDS movement a huge victory and has rendered the law to prevent the entry of boycott activists empty of all meaning. Minister of Tourism Yariv Levin called the judges’ decision “shameful” and claimed that they “were continuing to act against Israeli democracy.”
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, who is trying to spur a revolution in the Supreme Court by nominating conservative justices, argued several weeks ago, on Aug. 5, that if the Supreme Court rules against the nation-state law it would spell “war between the [legislative and judicial] branches.” Shaked bases her attacks on the court on the claim that the judges establish a judicial dictatorship and go against the decision of the people’s elected representatives, and thus they hurt democracy — “moving from rule of the people to rule of the council of the elders of the law,” as she described it in her speech at the Israel Bar Association’s annual conference Sept. 4.
By the way, even conservative judges don’t necessarily arrive at verdicts that line up with government policy. For example, religious judge Neal Handel, whose nomination was supported by right-wing members of the committee on judicial nominations, was one of the three who ruled against the deportation of Lara Alqasem.
President of the Supreme Court Esther Hayut responded last week to the attacks on the Supreme Court, arguing that although the judicial system suffers criticism bordering on incitement, no legislators have stood up to defend it. “Some of the public views this as a license and permission to use the same disparaging and harsh language. As a result of this, a violent discourse is spreading among us that is obtaining a harmful grip on all levels of our lives,” said Hayut.
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