Israeli Supreme Court Justice Hanan Meltzer reprimanded the state March 19 over its continued evasion of the Supreme Court’s instructions to ease overcrowding in the nation’s prisons, saying, “Our verdict was not a recommendation.” His remark reflects the serious undermining of Israeli democracy by disrespect for judicial rulings.

Law-abiding democratic countries uphold the cardinal and obvious principle of respecting and executing the rulings of the courts. Apparently, this is not the case in a state whose prime minister constantly lambasts law enforcement authorities. And former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who only recently exchanged his prison garb for civvies, heaps scorn in a new memoir on judges, senior prosecutors and a former state comptroller.

An ordinary citizen who decides to ignore a court ruling knows he stands to pay for it with his freedom or bank account, as well as his reputation. Politicians, on the other hand, view verdicts that are incompatible with their populist messages as opportunities to make headlines. Israeli prime ministers and Cabinet members who make a mockery of court rulings have never had to pay the price, neither at the ballot box nor at the bank.

Thus, for example, none of them were forced to shell out the 20,000 shekels ($5,700) in legal expenses the courts awarded to the Palestinian plaintiffs who petitioned the Supreme Court in 2009 against the planned course of the separation fence between Israel and the West Bank. The same was true for the 50,000 shekels ($14,400) awarded by a lower court to the plaintiffs in an earlier ruling. At a 2009 hearing, then-Chief Justice Dorit Beinisch accused the state of being “a law unto itself.” She, too, found it appropriate to state the obvious: “This court’s verdicts are not by way of being recommendations, and the state is duty-bound to respect and implement them with the speed and efficiency required.”