On Day 87 of the Israel-Hamas War, Israel’s Supreme Court handed Benjamin Netanyahu and his government a stinging defeat. In an 8-7 decision, the court rejected their attempt to remake the country’s judiciary into a handmaiden of the government. Instead, a narrow majority overturned the so-called Reasonableness Law, which had barred the courts from deploying a particular legal standard in assessing the legality of government measures.
Beyond that, the court ruled 12-3 that it possessed the authority to intervene in exceptional cases in which the Knesset — Israel’s parliament — oversteps its bounds and enacts laws that are contrary to the very nature of a democratic state. As a result, Netanyahu & Co. will not be answerable only to itself much as it may have wished.
Likewise, the chances of Netanyahu escaping his continued prosecution on bribery and corruption charges via legislative sleight of hand also decrease. These days, the popularity of his governing coalition is in the dumps. Latest polls show Netanyahu’s religious and right-wing bloc winning just 45 seats if elections for the Knesset were held today. Its political opposition would garner 71.
Since Netanyahu returned to office in late 2022, his tenure has morphed into a brutal period for the Jewish state, collectively, and for him, personally. Even before Oct. 7, the country roiled. Last January, members of his coalition announced their plans to undermine the judiciary and effectively transform Israel into a hi-tech version of Hungary, an illiberal goulash democracy.
Substitute Netanyahu for Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, and you get the picture. On the other hand, the lurking and real menace posed by Hamas went undetected. For much of Netanyahu’s ultranationalist government, culture wars and divine destiny took priority. The economy and the prospect of war, not so much.
Reality can bite. Bond-rating agencies immediately weighed in.
Maxim Rybnikov, director of sovereign ratings at Standard & Poor’s, warned that the government’s plans to “weaken the state’s institutions” might jeopardize Israel’s credit rating. His words proved prescient.
Israel’s credit outlook took a hit. Over the summer, Citibank, Morgan Stanley and Moody’s expressed their respective concerns as to the country’s direction.
There is “a significant risk that political and social tensions over the [judicial reform] will continue, with negative consequences for Israel’s economy and security situation,” Moody’s wrote.
“We see increased uncertainty about the economic outlook in the coming months and risks becoming skewed to our adverse scenario,” Morgan Stanley posited.
Eli Cohen, Israel’s energy minister, is an S&P alumnus. Netanyahu, an MIT graduate, launched his career at Boston Consulting Group. Both understood the force of markets, yet elected chose to gamble with the nation’s welfare. Like Brexit, populism came with a cost. Like the U.K., Israel’s future is cloudy. War now rages. Israel’s economy remains under pressure.
Estimates place the conflict’s cost on government coffers at approximately $18 billion — or $220 million daily. Meanwhile, the IDF, Israel’s military, pegs the proportion of reservists employed in hi-tech at 14%. GDP is projected to dip this year. Direct foreign investment has dropped. In the short-run anyway, the country’s golden goose will be hatching fewer eggs.
Regardless, Monday’s decision reopened old wounds. Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s Kahanist national security minister, blasted the ruling as “a dangerous and anti-democratic event,” undermining the country’s war efforts. Yariv Levin, Israel’s justice minister, called its timing, “contrary to the unity needed in these days for the success of our fighters on the front lines.” The national fabric frays.
Then again, America went to the polls amid the Civil War in 1864, World War II in 1944, and again during Vietnam and Iraq. During Reconstruction, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled as unconstitutional the use of military tribunals to deprive civilians of their right to be tried in civilian courts. Almost a century later, it struck down the Truman administration’s seizure of most U.S. steel mills during the Korean War.
“The President’s power to see that the laws are faithfully executed refutes the idea that he is to be a lawmaker.” War did not shred legal norms.
In his campaign memoir published in fall 2022, Netanyahu repeatedly lauded Russia’s Vladimir Putin for his intellect and toughness. “I took the measure of the man,” he claimed. Netanyahu also wrote that he understood Putin’s resentments: “The opening up of Russia …revealed that Russia had fallen hopelessly behind the West.”
Last summer, Netanyahu thumbed his nose at the U.S., and touted an expected visit to China. War upended those plans. The trip never happened. Instead, Israel grows ever-more reliant upon America and the goodwill of Joe Biden. At the same time, Netanyahu’s efforts to make Israel’s judiciary subservient to his whims have been derailed.
Green, an attorney, was a Justice Department appointee during the administration of George H.W. Bush.
Israeli justice defeats Netanyahu
9
1
04.01.2024
On Day 87 of the Israel-Hamas War, Israel’s Supreme Court handed Benjamin Netanyahu and his government a stinging defeat. In an 8-7 decision, the court rejected their attempt to remake the country’s judiciary into a handmaiden of the government. Instead, a narrow majority overturned the so-called Reasonableness Law, which had barred the courts from deploying a particular legal standard in assessing the legality of government measures.
Beyond that, the court ruled 12-3 that it possessed the authority to intervene in exceptional cases in which the Knesset — Israel’s parliament — oversteps its bounds and enacts laws that are contrary to the very nature of a democratic state. As a result, Netanyahu & Co. will not be answerable only to itself much as it may have wished.
Likewise, the chances of Netanyahu escaping his continued prosecution on bribery and corruption charges via legislative sleight of hand also decrease. These days, the popularity of his governing coalition is in the dumps. Latest polls show Netanyahu’s religious and right-wing bloc winning just 45 seats if elections for the Knesset were held today. Its political opposition would garner 71.
Since Netanyahu returned to office in late 2022, his tenure has morphed into a brutal period for the Jewish state, collectively, and........
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