Religione, politica e diritto: uno sguardo (d)alla Corte Suprema israeliana

Religion, politics and law: a perspective about the Israeli Supreme Court

Abstract

Religion, politics and law: a perspective about the Israeli Supreme Court - On 18 July 2018, the State of Israel enacted the Basic Law “Nation-State of the Jewish People”, which was approved by a narrow majority (62-55). The law in question strengthens the Jewish character of the Israeli state and lays the foundations for a redefinition of its constitutional order, calling into question the other character of the state, namely its democracy, also and above all in its relations with the Arab minority. Therefore, it seems to be of some interest to examine its application by judges (especially constitutional judges) in all those cases in which they find themselves called upon to defend the State of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, and thus in those cases in which the Jewish character of the State clashes with its democratic character. From the point of view of comparative law, the exercise we intend to carry out aims to verify whether or not the Israeli Supreme Court, in the exercise of its activity, confirms the stability of the democratic character of the state (also) through the Basic Law of 2018, or whether Israel should instead be classified as an ethnocracy (Yiftachel, 1997).

Keywords: Democracy; Ethnocracy; Israel; Israeli Supreme Court.