The Knesset Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee began the last session on the judicial reasonableness standard bill before the submission of reservations on Sunday morning.
After the discussion, a new version of the bill’s text will be distributed to the committee members and will be able to submit reservations until Monday morning. The reservation amendments will be voted on by the committee, and if rejected added to the bill during final reading votes at the Knesset.
The reasonableness standard is a common law doctrine in which the court can strike down government administrative decisions if they deem them extremely beyond what a reasonable and responsible authority would decide. The bill would restrict the use of the standard against decisions made by prime ministers and ministers.
Labor MK Gilad Kariv attacked the proceedings, and Law Committee chairman MK Simcha Rothman’s decision to begin the session with opening remarks. Kariv said the decision was typical of the hurried and bullish manner of the legislative process.
From Left: Justice Minister Yariv Levin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Health Minister and Interior Minister Moshe Arbel, and Energy Minister Israel Katz, in Jerusalem, on July 10, 2023. (credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)Outline for judicial reform
Kariv said that further sentiment of the pro-reform camp was made evident by calls of Likud activist Itzik Zarka for the genocide of Ashkenazi Jews. The Labor member said that he couldn’t take seriously calls for love and brotherhood by the coalition when there were so many hateful statements from the coalition.
The opposition also called for more experts to be heard in the hearings, especially Defense Ministry legal advisers who could detail the impact of the bill on Israel’s national security.
One expert that spoke to the panel on Sunday was Prof. Yuval Elbashan, who recalled that during that there was a consensus about reasonableness that needed to be considered.
Elbashan, who had previously drafted an outline for judicial reform with former Justice Minister Prof. Daniel Friedmann, said that in his eyes the law was missing critical elements. He said that the previous government needed protection from the reasonableness standard and that there needed to be differences between the restriction on full government decisions and individual minister decisions.
A glaring issue to Elbashan was that without reasonableness, there was no requirement for politicians to act reasonably in their conduct. Elbashan said that should be made a requirement even if the standard was eliminated, though he understood concerns about judicial activism based on that requirement. This could mean that politicians might need to show the logic behind their work and that they had weighed various considerations.
“In my eyes, the requirement for reasonable behavior is needed,” said Elbashan.
Elbashan said that reasonableness should be moved into the hands of the Knesset, perhaps with an opposition-led committee. He said that transferring this power check to the Knesset would empower the relatively weak legislative branch. This would include the reasonableness of ministerial appointments.
Further Law Committee sessions are scheduled each day until Wednesday. Mass protests are set to be held on Tuesday in response to the advancement of the bill.
Comments are closed.