Herzog – ‘Worried’ about ‘dramatic’ wave of legislation altering democratic foundations

President Isaac Herzog said on Sunday that he was “very worried” about the “emergence of dramatic legislation in the Knesset affecting the foundations of democracy, including the judiciary, law enforcement, civil rights, media independence, and academia.”

The comments, made at a memorial service for deceased Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, came at the beginning of a week in which the coalition is expected to advance a series of controversial bills, some of which have been associated with the government’s 2023 judicial reforms, which ultimately did not pass.

Herzog added, “It's clear that Israel's constitutional structure isn't perfect. I have said this over and over in recent years. There is much to improve in various areas, [including] relationships between branches of government and human and civil rights … but we had to learn, no later than on October 7th, that submission and arm-twisting are not the way.”

“We must urgently understand now that this is not the time. Any irresponsible shake-up of the delicate democratic fabric we have built here, any careless handling of our most fundamental core issues, any unnecessary unraveling of statehood and Israeli cohesion—and especially now, in the midst of the war—are a threat to our national resilience and cohesion,” Herzog said.

A response came in the form of a statement attributed to “[Justice] Minister [Yariv] Levin’s surroundings.” According to the statement, “President Herzog is a serial but one-sided worrier. When the Right wishes to implement its democratic majority in the Knesset, the president is immediately alarmed, but when the court tramples the Knesset and cancels a Basic Law, he is silent, and when they put out a directive to the justice minister with a demand to appoint a controversial chief justice, Herzog was not worried.”

Levin was referring to a foundational ruling in January that, for the first time, canceled an amendment to a quasi-constitutional Basic Law. The amendment in question, known as the “Reasonableness Standard Law,” barred the court from applying the reasonableness standard to executive actions taken by ministers or by the government. The High Court majority ruled that this removed a key component of judicial oversight and essentially put ministers “above the law” and was therefore void.

Tensions over Chief Justice appointment

Levin also referred to a court ruling in September that he did not have the authority to incessantly delay a vote to appoint a new Chief Justice after the former Chief Justice retired in October 2023. The court did not instruct Levin on who to appoint but ordered him to hold a vote to appoint one of the two candidates. Judge Yizhak Amit is expected to win the vote, contrary to Levin’s wishes to appoint Judge Yosef Elron to the position. Levin has refrained so far from holding the vote, and the court will soon hear a petition to rule Levin in contempt of court.

One of the bills expected to advance this week is a proposal to limit the Israel Bar Association’s use of funds it procures from mandatory membership fees. The coalition has argued that the IBA has used funds for “political” purposes, such as protesting the judicial reforms, and should be prevented from doing so. However, IBA leaders and members of the opposition have accused the coalition of using the bill as leverage in order to threaten the IBA’s two members on the committee responsible for appointing judges and force them to support the government's preferred candidate, Elron, in the Chief Justice vote.

A second bill proposal is to remove responsibility for the Police Investigations Department (PID), which investigates alleged wrongdoing by police officers, from the State Attorney’s Office and make the unit directly subordinate to the justice minister. The coalition has argued that the PID should have the power to investigate members of the State Attorney’s Office when necessary and, therefore, should not be subordinate to it. However, opposition members have argued that the bill would increase the justice minister’s power to use the PID for political purposes. Opposition members have also noted that the bill, which was advanced for months, returned to the Knesset agenda soon after the PID announced it was investigating senior police officers on charges of agreeing to provide National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir with classified information in exchange for promotions.

A third bill proposal is to shift the power to elect the judicial system’s ombudsman from the Judicial Selection Committee to the Knesset. This would enable a special majority in the Knesset, which is controlled by the coalition, to influence the appointment. The ombudsman is responsible for hearing and treating public complaints against judges.

Other controversial bill proposals expected to advance this week or in the near future include the “Rabbi’s Bill,” which will give the government the power to fund and appoint religious service providers to local authorities, and a proposal to broaden the jurisdiction of rabbinical courts and enable them to serve as certified arbitrators in civilian law cases if both sides agree; a bill to privatize Israel’s Public Broadcasting Corporation, known as KAN; a bill to expand the criteria to block candidates from running for the Knesset; and more.