by Michael Starr
The initiative was supported by Professor Yisrael Aumann, who spoke at the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee sessions on the reforms.
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Likud Head MK Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with MK Yariv Levin during
a vote for the new Knesset speaker at the assembly hall of the Knesset,
the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, on December 13, 2022.
(photo credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)
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A petition signed by 120 academics in support of the judicial reform proposed by Justice Minister Yariv Levin was announced on Thursday morning.
The petition's signatories include professors, researchers and administrators from the Weizmann Institute of Science, Technion, Haifa University, Bar Ilan University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv University and Ben Gurion University.
The initiative was supported by Israel Prize laureate Professor Yisrael Aumann, who spoke at the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee sessions on the reforms. Aumann had pushed for change in the composition of the judge selection committee but had advised against the override clause over concern of checks and balances and separation of powers between authorities.
Balance of power
This balance of powers between government branches was damaged by the High Court of Justice's 1990s constitutional revolution, argued the petition. The court had gained too many powers, including judicial review of both regular and Basic Laws and increased scope of the reasonableness clause.
THE HIGH Court of Justice has been a paper tiger in everything
concerning the Netanyahu bloc’s interests, says the writer (credit:
YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)"It shouldn't be allowed to harm the essential corrective process for the legal system, which in recent years has had the limits of authorities redrawn," said a statement announcing the petition.
Calling for negotiations
The petition also called for negotiations to create a broad agreement on the reforms, but not to capitulate on the core elements needed for correcting the system.
The signatories noted that there are many more academics that support the reform, and many more would join the petition.
The petitions were expressly in response to previous open letters by academics in opposition to the reforms. On January 24, 185 Israeli legal field academics signed a joint statement, which was preceded by a January 8 letter by eight Israeli university law faculty deans on January 8.
On Wednesday, 740 Israeli opposition activists with six NGOs sent a letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, calling for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be sanctioned for human rights offenses.
The activists asserted that through the judicial reform, Netanyahu was attacking Israel's democratic institutions and seizing control of all branches of government, which was in part motivated by his ongoing corruption trials.
"The bills that PM Netanyahu is promoting will turn the State of Israel into a full-fledged dictatorship, and will abolish all legal protections in Israel for human and civil rights," argued the activists. "We ask you to act without delay to implement the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, on PM Netanyahu as a perpetrator of corruption and serious human rights abuses."
Michael Starr
Source: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/article-733192
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