Israel's reasonableness standard law takes effect amid protests

With the passing of the reasonableness standard bill on Monday, leaders on both sides of the debate have indicated that they believe that it is a non-decisive battle in a longer war. 

The next bill that the coalition will likely promote, if negotiations don't resume as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proposed on Monday night, is on the Judicial Selection Committee. 

The Judicial Selection Committee is perhaps the most contentious issue of judicial reform, a matter where experts, NGOs and negotiating parties have said were unable to even approach consensus.

A hearing for the petitions against the judicial Reform reasonableness standard law will be set after the court recess, the High Court of Justice ruled on Wednesday.   

Senior nuclear scientists in the Israel Atomic Energy Commission are considering resigning in protest against the government's judicial reform plan, Channel 13 reported on Tuesday.

The groups of scientists, dozens as per the report, are still discussing whether or not to resign.

These scientists are reportedly targeted across the globe due to the nature of their occupation and have had security detail attached following Iranian threats on their lives.

The report continues, adding that any decision is unlikely to be taken as a united group, but rather as individuals.

The reasonableness standard bill that was passed into law in the Knesset on Monday came into effect on Wednesday morning, the spokesperson for the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee announced.

The legislation that entered the law book restricts the use of the reasonableness standard in judgments on the administrative decisions of the government, prime minister, or other ministers. The standard still applies to civil servants and other non-elected government officials.

The reasonableness standard is a common law doctrine that allowed for judicial review of administrative decisions deemed far beyond what a reasonable authority would decide. 
 
 
 

Furious over the passage of the “Reasonableness Law” by the coalition on Monday, the Israel Medical Association – which insists that the change will cause severe harm to the practice of medicine – instituted a strike on a reduced Shabbat schedule in most hospitals and clinics around the country but continued to treat urgent cases. 

However, at 3 pm, the Bat Yam Labor Court acceded to the Health Ministry’s request and ordered the doctors to return to work. “We respect the decision of the labor court, but we do not agree with the decision,” said IMA chairman Prof. Zion Hagay. 

“In light of this, we instructed the doctors to return to their work, after a strike that lasted throughout most of the working day. We have a long struggle ahead of us, and our announcement this week of a labor dispute will allow us more tools to continue, including the possibility of starting a general strike, as distinguished from a protest strike to which the labor court referred.

Aman Group is one of Israel’s leading IT companies, having generated over NIS 810 million in revenue this year. The company is a member of Israel’s Business Forum, and as such was a participant in the nationwide corporate strike on Monday, when the country’s top 150 companies ceased to work in protest of the Knesset passing the Law to Cancel the Reasonableness Standard, a significant step in the current government’s efforts to undermine the High Court’s legal authority.

Economists, experts, and executives alike have warned about the ill effect that the judicial reform will have on Israel’s economy, and already the damage is beginning to show. According to findings from Start-Up Nation Central, already 22% of hi-tech companies in Israel have begun diversifying their cash reserves outside of the country, and 37% of investors have seen companies in their portfolios withdraw portions of their cash reserves and move them abroad.

On Tuesday Israel’s sovereign credit rating was lowered by credit rating agency Morgan Stanley, and a special report on Israel’s economy is expected to be announced late Tuesday night, following the Knesset’s vote to pass the first law of its controversial judicial reform on Monday.

Morgan Stanley updated Israel’s sovereign credit to a "dislike stance," noting that the government has reaffirmed the trajectory of its economy in a direction that is likely to scare off investors.

"We see increased uncertainty about the economic outlook in the coming months and risks becoming skewed to our adverse scenario,” the agency said. “Markets are now likely to extrapolate the future policy path and we move Israel sovereign credit to a 'dislike stance.’”

Israel's labor court issued an injunction against the strike that began on Tuesday morning by Israeli medical residents, according to Israeli media.  

This is a developing story.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant should have resigned over the passing of the judicial reform's Law to Cancel the Reasonableness Standard on Monday, former Mossad chief Danny Yatom said on Tuesday morning to 103FM.

"Gallant should have done the bravest thing he could have - announce that he would stop playing this game," Yatom said. "He should have resigned, for better or for worse."

The Israel Bar Association submitted a petition to the High Court of Justice on Tuesday against the reasonableness standard bill that passed in the Knesset on Monday, joining a barrage of petitions from NGOs and public interest groups. 

The petition called for the amendment to Basic Law: The Judiciary, to be repealed, or to consider why the provisions of the legislation shouldn't come into effect only with the following Knesset. 

The Bar, which represents at least 77,200 Israeli attorneys, reasoned that the bill is part of a broader effort to fundamentally alter the legal system and cause irreversible damage to the ability to maintain a rule of law and separation of powers. The bill needed to be understood in the context of the other judicial reform provisions that were already in process, and a Basic Law amendment passed at the beginning of the year that allowed Shas Chairman Arye Deri to become a minister despite his criminal convictions.

Bill meant to immunize politicians, Bar charges

The bill passed on Monday limited the use of judicial review against extremely unreasonable administrative decisions made by the government, the prime minister, or ministers.  

The purpose of the law, the Bar contended, was to "immunize" the heads of the executive authority from acting within the bounds of reason. It created a "blank check" for corruption, as these officials no longer had to explain their reasoning. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with Israeli Minister of Justice Yariv Levin during a government conference at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem on May 28, 2023 (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)