Court wars: 6 things to know for April 25

1. The Israeli government scrapped its controversial plan to deport and/or imprison tens of thousands of African asylum seekers Tuesday, after failing to reach an emigration agreement with a third country. But hours later, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to re-open migrant jails in defiance of High Court rulings, by advancing coalition legislation that would allow the Knesset to override Israel’s top court.

• In its lead editorial, the Haaretz daily accuses the prime minister of destroying the High Court and “leaving Israel’s democracy exposed to government tyranny, with Netanyahu free of any checks and restraints that qualify his own populism.” The left-wing paper says the High Court often takes the role of the “responsible adult” in Netanyahu’s government, and is “the sole defender of human rights and the principles of justice against the arbitrariness of governments.”
• On the other side of the political spectrum, an Israel Hayom columnist takes aim at a leading think tank that defended the High Court’s legislative interventions and rejected accusations by right-wing lawmakers that the court is an activist organ that seeks to undercut the Israel’s elected leaders.
• Attorney Aharon Gerber says the Israel Democracy Institute research is “fraught with methodological errors” and asserts that the High Court does in fact wield “exceptional” power over the legislative branch, unlike most other Western countries. He accuses the court of creating a system in which it enjoys “de facto veto powers over government legislation.”

2. Jewish groups say Britain’s main opposition Labour Party is still failing to tackle anti-Semitism, despite a promise by leader Jeremy Corbyn to stamp out anti-Jewish prejudice.

• Corbyn said his Tuesday evening meeting with the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council was “positive and constructive.” But Board of Deputies president Jonathan Arkush says the meeting was a “missed opportunity” because “there were no actions to go with the words.”

• Allegations of Labour anti-Semitism have grown since pro-Palestinian socialist Corbyn was elected leader in 2015. Some in the party say Corbyn, a longtime critic of Israeli actions against the Palestinians, has allowed abuse to go unchecked. Several Labour lawmakers say they have been bombarded with online abuse after raising concerns about anti-Semitism in the party.

3. Intelligence Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday the Iran nuclear deal must be “fundamentally amended, and if not — canceled,” and that he was encouraged by US President Donald Trump’s stern threat to Iran during his meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron the day before.

• Katz says Macron and his European colleagues “must understand that putting heavy pressure on Iran today can prevent violence and perhaps war tomorrow.”
• On Tuesday, Trump warned Iran that if it restarted its nuclear deal in response to a US exit from the nuclear deal, the country would “have bigger problems than they ever had before.”

4. Malaysian police on Wednesday released a photo of one of the two alleged assailants who gunned down a Hamas engineer over the weekend, and said they are believed to still be in the country.

• Gaza’s ruling Hamas terrorist group has described Fadi al-Batsh as a “commander” in its military wing and accused Israel of being behind Saturday’s shooting. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement.

• National police chief Mohamad Fuzi Harun said investigators found a motorcycle abandoned near the murder scene and were able to track down an actual photo of one of the suspects. He said the men were believed to have entered Malaysia in late January using fake identification documents, and were still in the country.
• The killing was done in a “very professional” manner and police are working on the angle that the assailants may be foreign agents, Fuzi said. He declined to comment on whether they are linked to Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency.

5. The Jerusalem District Court sentenced a border policeman to nine months in prison for the fatal shooting of a stone-throwing teenage Palestinian protester.

• The Jerusalem District Court ruled Wednesday that Ben Deri unjustly opened fire during demonstrations in the West Bank four years ago. The shooting killed 17-year-old Nadim Nuwara, whom the court ruled did not pose an immediate threat to Deri’s life. The court ruled that Deri exhibited a “high degree of negligence” when he loaded his weapon with a live bullet rather than the rubber coated bullets typically used to disperse Palestinian demonstrations.
• Deri agreed to a plea bargain that dropped the charge from manslaughter to causing severe bodily harm and death through negligence. He was also ordered to pay the victim’s family $14,000.

6. The former police chief who was almost entirely acquitted of a string of sexual harassment charges for having inappropriate relationships with much younger subordinate officers draws the ire of the Yedioth Ahronoth daily.

• The paper dedicates the majority of Wednesday’s front page declaring that Jerusalem police chief Nissan “Niso” Shaham “got off easy,” and calls the court’s decision to acquit him over a flawed investigation was “disgraceful. In an accompanying op-ed, Yedioth journalist Chen Sror Artzi says Shaham’s behavior was “some of the more disgusting behavior we have been exposed to within the Israel Police and [Shaham] has no place in Israeli society.”