Justice Minister: An override law would be end of Israel as we know it

Outgoing Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar warns that the plans by the incoming coalition to pass the so-called override law would mean the end of “Israel as we know it.”

The incoming coalition plans to legislate an override clause that would allow lawmakers to reinstate legislation struck down by the High Court.

Negotiation teams from the right-religious coalition’s parties are currently debating the number of the Knesset’s 120 MKs that would be required to do so, but the clause itself is a legislative priority shared by all of the parties.

“A country where the political level can also completely control the choice of judges and can also overturn any judicial decision is not the State of Israel as we know it,” Sa’ar tells a conference at Reichman University.

“There can’t be a Western democracy without judicial oversight over parliamentary legislation,” he says.

“I think that the coalition that is coming together is taking Israel to a dangerous place,” he adds.