T. Belman. This protest by Mazuz, illustrates how important the Judicial Overhaul is. The Court views itself as Israel’s savior and democracy’s savior. No Knesset gave it this right or role. He said:
“It is definitely anti-democracy because the court has a defined job in the framework of the separation of powers, and that is to review the legality of government actions.”
He doesn’t say to review the “reasonableness” of government decisions. Furthermore, the High Court in all democracies with a constitution clearly has the role of determining whether the law is ultra vires the constitution. But that is not what we have in Israel, where the Court has substituted itself for the constitution. In doing so it imposes its values on the Knesset. No Knesset gave it the right to do so and it is clearly undemocratic.
He argues that the government is “corrupt” and explains:
“It is a corrupt law because the public should understand, in fact every citizen, that every person and state body is obligated to behave reasonably.”
That’s an over-statement. Everybody must abide by the law.
Menachem Mazuz, who also served as AG, slams coalition’s controversial legislation, part of judicial overhaul package, as ‘corrupt’; agrees Israel on ‘brink of dictatorship’
A protester stands in front of a police water cannon being used to disperse demonstrators blocking the Begin highway in Jerusalem during a protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul, on July 24, 2023, as the Knesset passed the ‘reasonableness’ law. (AP/Ariel Schalit)
The High Court of Justice should strike down the “anti-democratic” and “corrupt” “reasonableness” law the hardline coalition passed on Monday, former attorney general and retired Supreme Court justice Menachem Mazuz said Thursday.
In an interview with Channel 12 news, Mazuz said the law was “clearly anti-democratic and also corrupt” as it undermines the court’s role as a check and balance on the Knesset and government.
The law, an amendment to a Basic Law, voids the court’s ability to use a reasonability test to strike down government or ministerial decisions, and was the first major bill of the government’s judicial overhaul to be signed into law.
“It is definitely anti-democracy because the court has a defined job in the framework of the separation of powers, and that is to review the legality of government actions. At the moment, the government and Knesset are saying to the court, ‘We are not allowing you to fulfill your role,’” Mazus said.
“It is a corrupt law because the public should understand, in fact every citizen, that every person and state body is obligated to behave reasonably. And here the government comes and says, ‘You all have to behave reasonably, except for us,’” he added.
The bill’s advancement and passage sparked a massive wave of protests that culminated Monday night with hours of chaos, as demonstrators blocked roads and vowed to continue to fight government efforts to neuter the judiciary.
Mazuz agreed with a quote by former attorney general Avichai Mandelblit that because of the law, Israel was a country on the “brink of dictatorship.”
“It must be known that Israel’s democracy was always a crippled democracy. A democracy that is very lacking. A democracy that relies on very thin support,” Mazuz said, adding that the independence of the judiciary served as its main support.
“If that independence is harmed, we are left with nothing. We are left with a governmental system that is completely controlled by the government. And that is a simple definition of dictatorship,” he said.
Mazuz compared the string of proposals in the government plan to overhaul the judiciary to a “convoy of D-9s [bulldozers] converging on the court,” referencing past calls by lawmakers to destroy the Supreme Court.
Mazuz said that “democracy still flows through the veins of the public,” and that he believed that if the court were to strike down the law, creating a constitutional crisis, the police, Mossad, and Shin Bet security chiefs will act according to the law in such a moment.
In an interview with CNN Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to say if he would abide by such a decision by the High Court, warning that it could mean Israel was entering “uncharted territory.”
The former attorney general was also asked about the coalition’s efforts to take away the attorney general’s authority as head of the public prosecution. Likud MK Eli Dallal introduced – and then quickly retracted – a bill on the matter on Thursday.
“The whole idea is to appoint a public prosecutor who will do whatever the government wants,” Mazuz said.
Cabinet ministers and coalition MKs have repeatedly slammed Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara for opposing government policies and legislation, and called for her to be fired on several occasions.
Mazuz referred to a recent cabinet meeting at which Baharav-Miara was hounded by ministers — over what they said was her soft approach to rowdy anti-overhaul protesters — an “attack,” unlike anything he had witnessed in his career.
“I’m glad that the attorney general is a person with a solid personal and moral backbone, and she treated it appropriately,” he said.
Mazuz said there was no need to harden law enforcement against protesters blocking roads. He was reminded by the interviewer of his tough stand against such action while he was attorney general during protests against the 2005 Gaza disengagement.
“That was different,” he said. “During the period of the disengagement, they threw ninja road stars, nails, oil, and burning tires. There were semi-terrorist organizations of groups massing weapons, jerrycans of fuel they intended to pour to block roads.”
Mandelblit, the former attorney general, said Thursday that the motivation behind the “reasonableness” law is to enable the dismissal of Baharav-Miara.
“When [gatekeepers] are replaced by political appointments, there’s no longer rule of law,” he told Channel 13. “We need to understand that that’s the biggest danger with this ‘reasonableness’ law.”
The High Court of Justice will hear arguments against the reasonableness law in September, along with petitions demanding Justice Minister Yariv Levin convene the Judicial Selection Committee, which he has refused to do.
The court stopped short of issuing an injunction against the “reasonableness” law when it passed on Monday, the Movement for Quality Government in Israel said Wednesday following its petition with the court.
The group and six other petitioners argue that the law is an illegal power grab that opens the door to serious abuses of authority, noting that it was rushed through the Knesset without opposition buy-in.
“This amendment represents the opening notes of the closing chapter of democracy in Israel, no less,” the group wrote in its filing. “The court is perhaps the last redoubt standing before the collapse of the democratic regime in the State of Israel.”
It is clear that the left cares less about UNELECTED people as long as they belong to the left.
How reasonable is this?
It figures that a retired justice, one who participated in the Supreme Courts’ hijack of the democratic processes of Israel would object to the restoration of those (far more) democratic processes. In no democratic society does a court assume a case on its own without a plaintiff, decide cases without a law to back up their decision process (only that it’s REASONABLE to the court), and WRITE a law or laws in outright disregard for a legislature.
THOSE are the reasons for this first step in restoration of a government that is FAR more aligned with a democratic style form.
We hope that this is the first step back from the brink of judicial anarchy. And we hope that many more will wake up to the reality and truth, rather than the outright lies, treachery and treason of the likes of Lapid, Barak and Gantz. They have put Israel at risk because they care ONLY for their own power.