More Israelis believe the High Court of Justice should dismiss the petitions to strike down the law to limit the reasonableness clause than those who believe the courts should strike down the law, according to an Israeli Voice Index poll published by the Israeli Democracy Institute on Monday.
The poll was published a day before the High Court was due to hold a hearing on the amendment to Basic Law: Judiciary which much of the coalition said was damaging to Israeli democracy. In fact, only three ministers pledged to respect the High Court’s ruling on the matter no matter what.
Some 37% of the poll’s respondents said that the High Court should dismiss the petitions as opposed to 34% who said it should strike down the law. Amongst coalition and opposition voters, the opinions are almost entirely opposite with 61% of coalition voters believing the Court should dismiss the petitions while 61% of opposition voters believe it should strike down the law.
Levin must adhere to High Court on Judicial Selection Committee
Meanwhile, on the subject of the Judicial Selection Committee, more than half of Israelis believed that the High Court should be obeyed if it orders Justice Minister Yariv Levin to convene the committee.
Levin has refused to convene the committee until the suggested reform to it is passed, but this means that by the end of the year, Israel’s courts will be in a shortage of judges. Next week, the High Court will hold a hearing on whether Levin must convene the hearing regardless of the reform.
Within the opposition, a majority (76%) believed that Levin should listen to the High Court, and while this wasn’t true for the coalition, more believed he should listen (41%) than those who believed he shouldn’t (34%).
Meanwhile, the number of Israelis who think that Knesset parties should negotiate and compromise on proposed bills is at the highest since the beginning of the year, rising from 64% in January to 73% in August.
Negotiations on the judicial reform at the President’s Residence have been ongoing for months. Last week, an outline was leaked that had been given Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s seal of approval and which negotiation teams were trying to get the opposition to sign off on as well. However, attempts to get widespread agreement on a compromise outline are still ongoing.
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