The right-wing camp has little reason to smile. The massive withdrawal of the IDF from the northern Gaza Strip, the talk of the day after, the stuttering on the Rafah issue and the Philadelphi route, and now also the High Court decision – all these shatter the hopes that right-wingers pinned on the "full-right" government that began working exactly today a year ago.
About 100,<> demonstrators at the right-wing rally in Tel Aviv // Drone photo: Elements
The political system has emerged in its depths, and the long-awaited judicial reform remains only another stage in the never-ending activist evolution. But here may also be the opening for a reversal of the trend: the Supreme Court's decision, detached and aggressive, is likely to crowd the ranks of the right precisely at its difficult time.
"If the Supreme Court strikes down the reform, it will cross a red line." Now the Supreme Court has struck down the core of the reform. Levin (archive), photo: Mark Israel Salem
It doesn't matter what Yariv Levin, Simcha Rothman or Amir Ohana say. It is irrelevant what their plans are for the future – from declaring Supreme Court rulings inadmissible to initiating the establishment of a constitutional court. From the legal reform announced with pathos by Yariv Levin 11 months ago, not only is nothing left, but quite the opposite. The Supreme Court, through its ruling, only further strengthened its standing vis-à-vis the legislative branch, taking upon itself – once again – powers that were never granted to it.
Levin's insistence on going all the way, without negotiations and without compromise, he will find himself even on the day after the war with no possibility of changing the composition of the Judicial Selection Committee and without the possibility of appointing judges as he pleases, since he did not ensure that he had the necessary majority on the committee. From the moment he announced that all the Supreme Court justices were not conservative enough, and Dean Fogelman as Dean Solberg, there was also no opening for negotiations over the appointment of the two missing justices. The same applies to the appointment of the president to the Supreme Court – although he succeeded in preventing Yitzhak Amit from taking office, he was forced to accept Fogelman as his replacement. Long live the difference.
The political system is paralyzed. War. There is a unity government, and controversial matters cannot be brought to the Knesset for discussion without dismantling the package. The High Court of Justice is not subject to the political schedule and should not be subject to it, but its decision at this time proves for the thousandth time how detached and detached it is from reality.
The audience at the Supreme Court, on the day of the High Court hearings on the grounds of reasonableness (archive), photo: Oren Ben Hakon
If one wants to look for merit, or perhaps a kind of victory for the reform leaders, who will be forced in this round to give up in surrender, it is the aggressiveness with which the High Court of Justice operates, which peels away the remnants of support, including those who fought for it, who took to the streets every week and who for the past two and a half months have been fighting the real enemy, the one in the Gaza Strip. Even those who welcome the ruling itself are likely to have fears in their hearts about the excess of authority, the excess of motivation and the excess of detachment that resides among those who wear robes.
Simcha Rotman (Archive), Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Last time they did not agree to negotiate even a millimeter on reducing the powers of the High Court of Justice under the leadership of the current government, but in a different political reality, with a different government and with a different dialogue, it will probably be possible to reach agreements and understandings in the coming years that will restore order, even if only slightly. Not to mention the unification on the right that may occur in the face of the court's aggression, precisely at a time when disappointment with its leaders threatens the stability of the government.
And there may be the victory, small and late, of Yariv Levin and Simcha Rothman. On their watch, this failed, but the chances grew that they would be the ones to be marked as having laid the foundation stones for a new national order in relations between the authorities.
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