In cabinet meeting, justice minister said to call to revive judicial overhaul plan
‘Time has come to make the change,’ Levin is quoted as saying of proposals that sparked mass protests last year; Lapid: We’ll block ‘judicial coup with all tools at our disposal’
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
During Sunday’s cabinet meeting, Justice Minister Yariv Levin reportedly pushed for the renewal of the government’s legal overhaul, which has been frozen since October 7.
“It is time for us to decide on whether to pursue this with all of our strength,” the Kan broadcaster quoted Levin, one of the primary architects of the overhaul, as saying: “The time has come to make the change that is needed in the judicial system.”
The controversial package of proposals, which sought to increase government control over the judiciary and limit the High Court’s power of judicial review, prompted mass protests last year, and was briefly paused after a general strike brought the country to a standstill in March 2023. That month, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant had warned that the rift over the overhaul was causing contention within the military, and thus constituted a tangible security threat to Israel. Netanyahu fired Gallant but then reinstated him.
Last July, the government managed to pass a component of the overhaul, prohibiting courts from rejecting government decisions on the basis of “reasonableness.”
That law was overturned in December, however, by which time the overhaul was already frozen in the wake of Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught, when thousands of terrorists killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, starting the ongoing war.
At Sunday’s meeting, Levin reportedly called to ensure the proposals have a majority of support in the Knesset this time, saying that once the coalition’s ranks are “in line,” they can reach out to the opposition to come to an agreement.
According to Kan, during the meeting, Levin and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir also discussed their desire to fire Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, after the government on Sunday approved a controversial measure allowing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to directly nominate the next civil service commissioner, rather than using a search committee, despite her strong opposition.
Multiple members of the cabinet have called for the attorney general’s termination in recent months, leading Opposition Leader Yair Lapid to recently accuse Netanyahu of seeking her ouster in order to enable a return to the government’s efforts to hobble the judiciary.
Lapid said in a statement on Sunday that Levin’s “calls to bring back the judicial coup in full strength, alongside the government’s predatory moves, and the calls to fire the attorney general, are an unfathomable display of detachment from the citizens of Israel.”
“They haven’t learned anything. The first time, the coup weakened Israeli society, and then came October 7,” his statement continued.
“Instead of taking care of the abandoned north, or the residents of the south who can’t return home, or a deal for the hostages who are dying in Hamas’s tunnels, they’re busy trampling over the rule of law.”
“We will not allow the most extreme government in the history of Israel to continue its efforts to advance the judicial coup. We will use all the tools at our disposal. All options are on the table,” he said.
Michael Horovitz, Jeremy Sharon, and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
