Herzog warns ministers: Disobeying a court order would be destructive for Israel

President Isaac Herzog emphatically warns that threats not to obey court rulings and orders would be a “real danger” for Israel and its democracy, averring that failing to abide by a judicial ruling would be “destructive” for the country.

The president’s remarks come following multiple threats by senior cabinet ministers not to obey potential court rulings on various cases, as well as what the attorney general said Monday was the government’s ongoing violation of a court order regarding the enforcement of military conscription for ultra-Orthodox men.

“We need to know that without a legal system we could not exist as a society and as a state,” Herzog says in remarks delivered at the Mekor Haim yeshiva high school in the Kfar Etzion settlement in the West Bank.

“It is unthinkable that anyone would consider disobeying a court ruling. When one disobeys a court ruling, or when one calls for disobeying a ruling — one endangers the State of Israel, Israeli society, social order, and endangers our ability to live together,” says the president.

“To think that a court order should not be obeyed or that is is forbidden to obey the court, or to say that one should not obey a ruling, is a disaster, and it is a great danger to the state,” continues Herzog.

“It is a real danger, and therefore I warn against it in the strongest possible terms. Do not go there and do not speak of it. Debate, yes — debate is legitimate. But God forbid that we cast doubt on our ability to respect court rulings.”

The president’s warning comes after three senior cabinet ministers sent a letter yesterday to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stating that if the High Court of Justice were to order him to remove National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir from office for violating court orders regarding police practice, he should ignore the order.

Several other cabinet ministers have made similar threats over different cases in recent weeks.