MESOPOTAMIA NEWS ANARCHY IN ISRAEL ? – Chief Justice Hayut: Knesset speaker’s threat could drive country to anarchy

Yariv Levin threatened that if the court ever strikes down a Basic Law as unconstitutional, he will call on the government to ignore the court.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB   JERUSALEM POST MAY 31, 2021 15:02 – Supreme Court President Esther Hayut warned on Monday that a threat by Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin to ignore the judicial branch’s rulings could lead to anarchy and chaos.

Without explicitly mentioning Levin, but with clearly hinting at him, Hayut told an Israel Bar Association conference in Eilat that, “There are public servants who have entitled themselves to call for non-compliance and non-respect of court rulings with which they do not agree.”

“There is a great threat embedded in these highly irresponsible statements – and it is important to clearly warn about it – that undermining the legitimacy of the courts and its rulings undermines the principle of the rule of law, and from there, the path to anarchy and chaos is a short distance,” she said.

Last week, the Supreme Court, by a 6-3 vote, for the first time threatened to strike down a Basic Law relating to the budget as highly problematic and not in line with the parameters of Basic Laws.

Basic Laws are considered Israel’s quasi constitution so there is question whether the Supreme Court had the power to intervene, or even hear the case.

A number of right-wing political officials, with Levin the highest-ranking among them as head of the legislative branch, publicly said that if the court ever strikes down a Basic Law as unconstitutional, he will call on the government to ignore the court’s orders.

Levin has been an arch-critic of the Supreme Court for years and advocates wholesale changes to its structure and powers in order to significantly reduce its ability to weigh in on public policy issues which he considers the sole purview of the Knesset.

Hayut and most top judicial officials have for years pleaded with the Knesset to pass a constitution which will restrain populist tendencies by the Knesset so that the court is not put in the position of being the only party which can do so, while essentially inventing the rules for restraint as it goes based on the Basic Laws.

Regarding the specific budget basic law in question, the court said it could have authority to intervene because the law in dispute contradicted the underlying principles of other Basic Laws relating to the budget.

Further, the Supreme Court said that the disputed law was, in effect, a short-term political fix simply labeled (wrongly) as a long-term Basic Law to try to keep the court away from the issue.

Three justices dissented and said the court lacked the authority to analyze or characterize whether a Basic Law is properly thought out as a long-term principle, or a narrow short-term political fix.

Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit backed Hayut’s counterattack, saying that in a democracy the legislative branch must respect and obey rulings of the judicial branch, even if it does not agree with them.

He said no democracy or rule of law system can function without these basic tenets.

Mandelblit said he was greatly disappointed by the elevated recent attacks on the Supreme Court by public officials – again alluding to Levin and others.

Likewise, Justice Minister Benny Gantz came to Hayut’s defense warning that, “the court is having to maneuver under fire and having to hold together the stability of the governing system, which is being held hostage, from election to election.”

Further, Gantz said that the fact that certain public officials, such as the justices, are being attacked for doing their jobs, “raises the concern that we did not learn the lesson in Jewish history from the murder of [Yitzhak] Rabin.”

He said that all public officials must unequivocally condemn incitement to violence, especially against other public officials.

Levin responded unapologetically to Hayut on Monday saying that she and the court had crossed the line by intervening regarding basic laws.

He said it was his job and prerogative to defend the sovereignty of the Knesset from the court overstepping its bounds and that he would continue to do so.