A government panel says it would support an opposition bill to elevate the Declaration of Independence to the status of a Basic Law — provided that the opposition supports its controversial plan to remake Israel’s judiciary.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid has proposed to enshrine the 1948 document, which lacks formal legal power, into a quasi-constitutional Basic Law.
Rather than reject Lapid’s bill out of hand, the Ministerial Committee on Legislation says it has decided to “support” the bill, “contingent upon opposition support for judicial reform.”
Lapid co-leads the opposition’s fight against the coalition plan to drastically curtail judicial power, and has railed against its latest unilateral effort to eliminate judicial review of elected officials’ decisions.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin, the ideological weight behind the reform, chairs the Ministerial Committee on Legislation.
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From the Liveblog of
Sunday, July 2, 2023
