Coalition officially restarts overhaul with panel discussion on ‘reasonableness’ bill

Deliberations begin on the coalition’s bill to outlaw judicial review of the “reasonableness” of political decisions and appointments, officially restarting its judicial shakeup three months after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu froze the controversial legislative package.

Speaking in the Knesset’s Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee, opposition lawmakers slam the reasonableness bill as the first step in a collective vision to curtail judicial checks on political power.

“This is part of a full plan to hurt democratic institutions,” says National Unity’s Orit Farkash HaCohen, who charges that at the root of the overhaul is “corruption.”

Yesh Atid lawmaker Karine Elharrar adds that eliminating the reasonableness test over decisions by ministers and other elected official “is the first thing in the Poland protocol.”

“They do it bit by bit, in moderate steps, and in the end they control the system,” she adds.

Coalition lawmakers defend the move, saying that elected officials are more suited to making policy than the court is.

“It’s not reasonableness, it’s policy,” says Likud MK Amit Halevi. The court “swaps” its position for that of elected officials, he says.

Ahead of the bill’s introduction into the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, the forum’s legal adviser issued an opinion encouraging lawmakers to limit the ban to certain fields, such as government policy on the economy.

He also encouraged lawmakers to create, in parallel, mechanisms that would improve transparency of government decisions, in place of court hearings.