Knesset Speaker: High Court has no authority to strike down basic laws

Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana warned the High Court of Justice not to strike down the law to cancel the reasonableness standard on Wednesday.

“One line that hasn’t been crossed yet is the striking down of a Basic Law by the judiciary, and [this line] may get crossed,” he said.

If the High Court strikes down the amendment to the Basic Law: Judiciary, which was passed in July, it wouldn’t just be “against the coalition or a specific party,” Ohana said. Such a ruling would be “against the Knesset and Israeli democracy.”

The High Court will hear petitions on Tuesday against the law to change the reasonableness standard which passed at the end of July. Petitions were filed against the amendment as soon as it was passed, and on Monday, Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara urged the High Court to strike it down in what would be a first as the High Court has never struck down a Basic Law amendment.

Basic Laws have a higher judicial status than regular laws, and if a regular contradicts a Basic Law, the High Court can strike it down.

“If the High Court strikes down a basic law, then all the decisions it has made thus far relying on the higher status of basic laws are null and void,” said Ohana.

He also said that as a democracy, Israel is ruled by the people through its representatives and not by the judiciary. He reiterated that as such, the High Court did not have the authority to strike down a Basic Law legislated by the Knesset.

“The Knesset will not submissively be crushed,” he said.

Levin welcomes Ohana's speech

Justice Minister Yariv Levin called Ohana’s speech “brave” and his standing on the Knesset authority “firm.” Levin has been determined to get the judicial reform passed and has threatened to resign in the past if it’s dropped or concessions are made. After a compromise outline was leaked on Monday, Levin continued to insist on Tuesday that it was not an existing outline and that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would not go for it.

“I stand with the Knesset chairman, my friend Amir Ohana, for his important words,” said Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

Earlier on Tuesday, Smotrich had spoken at a conference saying that he was against the leaked compromise outline and that the right wing government had to take more charge.

Ohana’s speech was met with strong criticism from the opposition.

“Anyone who says in the morning that they want to reach agreements that will preserve the rule of law, cannot in the evening threaten to disassemble it,” said a statement for Benny Gantz’s National Unity Party. “Ohana’s statement that he won’t accept a court ruling ‘submissively’ is an opening for anarchy. Netanyahu has to distance himself from it, otherwise the STate of Israel will slide down a slippery slope.”

Opposition leader Yair Lapid. said Ohana’s disgraceful speech does not represent the Knesset, “and he does not speak in the name of most MKs, including many members of the coalition who still believe in the rule of law and the need to heed the court.

“Whoever heard him today asked themselves, where will they stop? Why is it important to them to divide the people? Why does the Knesset chairman want to destroy the Knesset?”

Ohana’s predecessor Mickey Levy also criticized the speech.

“In a democratic country, the legislative branch does not threaten the High Court of Justice and its judges, and it doesn’t crush their important roles as the only thing that balances and supervises the decisions of the majority,” he said.

He added that Ohana ought to stop his fellow coalition members who “legislate personal basic laws that harm the basis of the State of Israel as a democratic nation.

“If the Knesset is interested in maintaining its status and minimizing the involvement of the judiciary, it needs to start treating itself and the Basic Laws it legislates with the required respect,” he ended.

“The Knesset chairman demands of the High Court to recognize its limitations, but he himself doesn’t know the values of democracy,” said the Movement for Quality of Government. “If Ohana isn’t going to respect the High Court ruling, he’s welcome to give up his seat for someone who does understand how democracy works.”

Some 1,340 former IDF intelligence and special operations officers responded to Ohana’s speech saying, “the Knesset speaker has now made it explicit that he will not abide by the High Court of Justice’s rulings, from the spirit of his commander, Netanyahu. We know as a certainty: a government which does not abide by the High Court will find itself tomorrow with no IDF, no Shin Bet and no Mossad.”

A source close to the compromise negotiations said that the sides were trying to reach an agreement quickly in part to prevent the High Court from holding a hearing on the matter due to the unprecedented nature of debating a Basic Law.