Why Israel Is Bitterly Split by a Judiciary Overhaul

Until a new war with the militant Palestinian group Hamas broke out in October, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government had made overhauling the country’s judicial system a top priority. The revamp by the government, a coalition of right-wing and religious parties, sparked massive protests mostly by secular Israelis in the center and on the left who argue that the changes taken and planned would undermine the country’s democracy. The war with Hamas, considered a terrorist group by the US and European Union, prompted the government to postpone further action on the overhaul. But the contentious issue was revived on Jan. 2, when the Supreme Court overturned the most consequential of the laws already passed.

The Supreme Court, sitting with all 15 justices for the first time ever, struck down by a vote of 8 to 7 a law passed by the Knesset, Israeli’s parliament, in July that would have barred judges from voiding decisions taken by elected officials as “unreasonable.” The closeness of the vote was an indication of the divisions within Israeli society over the court’s authority.