The Israeli High Court in West Jerusalem issued a decision to accept an argument submitted against the coalition government of Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, which could overturn fundamental aspects of the unity government, rending them unconstitutional.
Over the past six months, the High Court rejected cases submitted against the coalition, including objections against doubling its number of ministers.
However, it will consider this time petitions submitted by the Movement for the Quality of Government in Israel and the Meretz party arguing that the unity government formed last May between the Likud party and Blue and White party, entails a constitutional change.
Under the agreement, Netanyahu and Gantz will rotate as prime minister for 18 months each, but when one of them is prime minister, the second will serve as acting prime minister.
This agreement has no precedent and includes amendments to the Basic Law: The Government.
The court decided to review the matter in a panel of nine justices, granting Netanyahu, Gantz and the whole government 21 days to defend Basic Law changes leading to a power-sharing coalition.
It is also questioning the legislation that demands that any further changes to that Basic Law be done only with a majority of 70 lawmakers out of the 120-member Knesset, instead of the regular 61, which weakens the Law’s ability to withhold confidence from the government.
The decision sparked a wave of widespread criticism and threats against the court and the judiciary.
Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin (Likud) slammed the court order, saying: “The High Court of Justice, in its outrageous decision, is laying the groundwork for crossing the red line of intervening in Basic Laws.”
Levin argued that the court doesn’t have the authority to intervene in a way that is contrary to the most basic principles of democracy and is therefore "fundamentally void."
The Speaker indicated that such a move increases public support for changing the method of selecting and removing judges who use their positions to crush democracy.
Government minister for coordinating with the Knesset, David Amsalem, described the court’s order as “coup de grace” to the already dying government, noting that it will soon lead to the dissolution of the government and early elections.
He said that the Likud, led by Netanyahu, would return to power with a purely right-wing government that would seek to change laws and reduce the powers of the High Court.
