The Israeli judicial reform's reasonableness bill advanced to the Knesset plenum for final readings when it passed in a vote in the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee late Wednesday night.
The bill, which passed with nine in favor and seven against, would prevent courts from using the reasonableness standard in judgments against administrative decisions by the government, prime minister, and ministers. This would include the decision to refrain from acting.
The reasonableness standard is a common law doctrine that allows judicial review and striking of government decisions deemed extremely beyond what a reasonable authority would decide.
Raising a ruckus
A ruckus was raised in the committee chamber as the vote began. Opposition members shouted and Labor MK Gilad Kariv waved pictures of the International Court of Justice and accused Law Committee chairman Simcha Rothman of neglecting IDF soldiers -- a reference to the idea that the bill would degrade the independence of the courts and thereby give the ICC jurisdiction over Israelis.
Yisrael Beytenu MK Yulia Malinovsky said that "What is currently on the table is a bad law that violates the basic rights of Israeli citizens and may harm their security as well. It's not too late to open the text to revision because what is currently in the text neutralizes the legal system completely and does not give the citizens of Israel any tools to deal with the bullying of the politicians."
The vote to advance the bill came after a marathon voting session on almost 28,000 reservations on the text, which extended from Tuesday night into Wednesday morning for 18 hours, and then continued into the late hours of Wednesday. MK Ofir Katz said the entire process was hindered by interruptions by the opposition.
Opposition members sent a letter to the Knesset legal advisers on Wednesday, imploring them to review what they claimed were voting discrepancies -- some MKs seemed to have voted for and against in some cases, and the counting of votes was done wrong for others, they alleged.
Knesset Legal Adviser Sagit Afik said late Wednesday that her team had reviewed the videos of the votes and did not find any flaws that warranted correction.
Yesh Atid MK Yoav Segalovitz said that confusion about the process was created by the pace of the voting. Kariv insisted that from the first day of the bill's proposal, there were flaws in the proceedings.
"You give us no choice but to meet at the High Court of Justice," said Kariv.
Rothman thanked the legal advisers and committee workers for their diligence in a demanding period, and castigated the opposition for what he said was disgraceful behavior.
The vote to advance the bill came after a marathon voting session on almost 28,000 reservations on the text, which extended from Tuesday night into Wednesday morning for 18 hours, and then continued into the late hours of Wednesday.
Opposition members sent a letter to the Knesset legal advisers on Wednesday, imploring them to review what they claimed were voting discrepancies -- some MKs seemed to have voted for and against in some cases, and the counting of votes was done wrong for others, they alleged.
Knesset Legal Adviser Sagit Afik said late Wednesday that her team had reviewed the videos of the votes and did not find any flaws that warranted correction.
Yesh Atid MK Yoav Segalovitz said that confusion about the process was created by the pace of the voting. Kariv insisted that from the first day of the bill's proposal, there were flaws in the proceedings. MK Ofir Katz said the entire process was hindered by interruptions by the opposition.
Opposition members also shouted down proceedings during the long votes, with Labor MK Gilad Kariv waving pictures of the International Court of Justice and accusing Rothman of neglecting IDF soldiers -- a reference to the idea that the bill would degrade the independence of the courts and thereby give the ICC jurisdiction over Israelis. The claim that the judicial reform would lead to IDF soldiers being brought before the Hague was echoed by former Mossad head Tamir Pardo at a Movement for Quality Government in Israel protest in front of the High Court of Justice building on Thursday.
"Every soldier who goes abroad, every commander, every officer, every policeman could be arrested - whether on a trip, whether he is with his family, whether on a business trip, one year, two years, 15 years later, because there is no statute of limitations on war crimes," warned Pardo.
At an Israel Bar Association emergency conference on Thursday, former Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit also said that the High Court serves as an Iron Dome for the state of Israel against international legal attacks.
Mandelblit warned that the judicial reform would not stop with the reasonableness bill. The Israeli system was extremely vulnerable with none of the standard infrastructure to protect democracy, save for an independent judiciary and the Attorney-General's Office, which he said were both being threatened by the reform.
Bar Association chairman Amit Becher also attacked the bill's passing in the committee, saying that limits were being removed from extreme politicians.
"Last night the Knesset Law Committee carried out an assassination of Israeli democracy," said Becher.
Pro-reform lawyers shouted at Becher as he made his speech, and were removed from the conference. Becher said that the Bar would lead petitions against the reasonableness bill at the High Court. Kariv warned the Law Committee that the opposition would also seek legal action.
"You give us no choice but to meet at the High Court of Justice," said Kariv. Later in the day, he warned that mass protests would also arise in response to what he said was a nail in the coffin of Israeli democracy.
Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.