The Bayit Yehudi faction plans to withdraw its support from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s Likud-led government in all future Knesset votes if legislation limiting the ability of Israel’s Supreme Court to overrule parliamentary laws is not advanced, party officials warned Tuesday morning.
In a message to party members, Bayit Yehudi leaders announced that the faction’s eight person delegation would refrain from voting with the coalition beginning on May 6 if the government fails to advance the “Override Clause” supported by Education Minister Naftali Bennett.
The proposal would add a clause to the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, explicitly empowering the Knesset to overrule the Supreme Court and reenact laws nullified by the nation’s judiciary.
While Israel lacks a constitution, the Knesset has passed a series of Basic Laws which some Israeli jurists, including former Supreme Court President Aharon Barak, have treated as the nation’s de facto constitution.
Since Barak’s ascension over the Supreme Court in the 1990s, it has taken an activist position regarding the judiciary’s role, assuming the right of judicial supremacy and the ability to strike down laws passed by the Knesset and compel the government to adhere to its rulings.
Under the Bayit Yehudi-backed bill, the Knesset could override Supreme Court rulings tossing out laws with a simple majority of 61 lawmakers.
While most laws require only a majority of members of Knesset voting at any given time, the Override Clause would require a majority of the full 120 member Knesset.
But Attorney General Avihai Mandelblit has expressed his opposition to the proposal, backing instead a watered-down version which would require 70 lawmakers to override the Supreme Court.
Prime Minister Netanyahu has delayed discussion of Bennett’s proposal, in part due to opposition by Finance Minister Moshe Kaḥlon (Kulanu).
On Monday, Bennett demanded that Netanyahu’s Likud party back the proposal, citing agreements obliging Likud to support efforts to restrict judicial review.
“Our demand to enact the clause with a majority of 61 Knesset members is no surprise. The Likud signed an explicit coalition agreement with us. Agreements must be fulfilled. I expect the full support of the Likud next Sunday. We will return the proper balance of powers to the branches [of government].”
In an interview on Sunday, Bennett said the Supreme Court had assumed the powers of the executive branch and was throwing out laws on a regular basis.
“The Supreme Court has tossed out nearly 20 laws in the last few years, and that is outrageous,” continued Bennett.
“We want the Supreme Court to be able to nullify laws only in extraordinary circumstances. The Knesset will be able to pass laws a second time [after their nullification by the court] in a protected manner, with a special majority of 61 Knesset members.”
On Monday evening, however, Netanyahu accepted a request by Supreme Court President Esther Hayut that discussion of the Override Clause be delayed and urged Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Bayit Yehudi) to block deliberations on the bill at next Sunday’s meeting of theMinisterial Committee for Legislation.
The committee, which ordinarily meets once a week, grants or denies government backing for upcoming bills. Once approved by the committee, a law is guaranteed coalition backing and typically assured passage through the Knesset.
On Tuesday, however, Bayit Yehudi officials announced that if the Override Clause is not adopted by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation by Sunday, May 6, the party will not support the coalition government in future parliamentary votes.
Loss of the eight Bayit Yehudi votes in the Knesset would leave the 66 member coalition with just 58 votes in the 120 member Knesset, just three shy of the 61 seat majority necessary to ensure passage of legislation.
“We remind you that the Likud is obliged by its coalition agreements to back the Override Clause [version which requires] a majority of 61 [lawmakers],” the Bayit Yehudi announcement read. “Agreements must be honored.”
