Political Courts and Judicial Pushback: A Response to Moshe Cohen-Eliya and Iddo Porat

Rehan Abeyratne

1. Introduction
Israel faces a moment of constitutional crisis and, perhaps, of opportunity. The crisis emerged soon after the return of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu backed by the country’s most conservative coalition government to date. The new government proposed legislation in January 2023 that would weaken the judicial review powers and independence of the Supreme Court. Among other things, it would permit the Israeli legislature (Knesset) to override provisions in the country’s Constitution (Basic Laws), require a supermajority of 12 out of 15 judges on the Supreme Court to hold legislation unconstitutional, and effectively permit the governing coalition to appoint judges to the Supreme Court and to remove them without cause.

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