Key Haredi newspaper questions wisdom of continued backing of judicial overhaul

An influential newspaper aligned with the United Torah Judaism political party published an editorial Thursday advocating compromise on some elements of the judicial overhaul and questioning its wisdom.

The editorial in Yated Ne’eman is in line with the party’s relatively pragmatic approach to the overhaul, which it supports as a key ally of the coalition headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but which it fears is generating an antagonism that could jeopardize the interests of its constituency.

The immediate subject of the editorial was the “reasonableness bill,” poised to pass into law next week, which would limit the ability of judges to rely on the concept of reasonableness in evaluating governmental and ministerial decisions.

“Following the correction of the reasonableness clause, we need to recalibrate and ask ourselves: At what price?” the editorial reads. “This is, after all, something in which we have no direct stake. Should we bear the burden of the outcome of this war?”

The editorial goes on to note that even after all the changes sought by the overhaul promoters, the courts would remain secular and therefore irrelevant to ultra-Orthodox Jews.

Haredi publications and right-wing outlets have covered extensively in recent months an alleged increase in hostility toward religious people amidst the wave of mass protests against Netanyahu’s government, which relies on a coalition between Netanyahu’s Likud party and four Orthodox parties. Some protests led by IDF reservist groups recently have been staged in the Haredi city of Bnei Brak, to highlight what they say is an inequitable share of the security burden.

The authors of the Yated Ne’eman editorial clarified that they still support the overhaul and its components, which is aimed at sidelining a judiciary that many in the Haredi community feel is biased against them. This includes the override bill, another piece of legislation in the overhaul package, which would allow the Knesset to override laws struck down by the court.

“Granted, the override clause is necessary to ensure the status of yeshiva students and to prevent various attacks on sacred issues,” the editorial reads, referencing a 2017 Supreme Court ruling against the exemption granted to yeshiva students from military and national service. “This is an indispensable protection, especially as the coalition agreement is committed to this demand.”

But, the editorial continued, “What if there’s another way of obtaining this principle and objective? Is it correct to aim all the poison darts flying through the air at the pure hearts of yeshiva students?”

Netanyahu in an interview with The Wall Street Journal last month said he “threw out” the override clause. But Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf, who belongs to United Torah Judaism, earlier this month said in a radio interview that Netanyahu had promised him following the Journal interview that the government would still pass such a bill in some form.

In March, United Torah Judaism in a statement said it supports the overhaul but would not oppose Netanyahu “reaching understandings and agreements of the widest scope possible, to lower the flames and stop the national division.”