The bill that will prevent the Supreme Court from interfering in the appointment of ministers, allowing Shas chairman Aryeh Deri to return to the table, was passed on Wednesday in a preliminary reading.
The law was passed by a majority of 62 versus 53. Deri did not participate in the vote.
After the Deri Law was passed, a debate began on the Override Clause, an amendment to one of Israel’s Basic Laws that will curb the power of the Supreme Court.
After an extremely raucous debate with loud screaming between the coalition and opposition members, the Override Clause was passed in a preliminary vote as well.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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9 Responses
I was convinced by the pro-reform arguments for all components except the Override Clause. To allow a simple majority to override the Judiciary’s interpretation of Israel’s unwritten constitution is simply mob rule. I don’t care if any other country allows it. If a future Israeli left-wing government, say, forces Chareidim to go to public school or worse, exactly what will stop them without a judiciary??! At least require a supermajority, or start working on a written constitution that’s untouchable…
@SchnitzelBigot: You have a valid point. At the moment it appears the right with the religious and traditionals have a good majority in the population as many who voted for the opposition only did so due to their dislike of Bibi. But in the end we are in golus even in E”Y and there is little we can do to stop our enemies to issue decrees against Torah and Yiddishkeit. So it’s only a matter of Tefilloh, Teshuvo and Tzedokoh with Sholem between us above all!
lots of Mob rule in Israel…..sadly it is coming from those who make Aliyah bringing with them the nonsense of lifestyle and privileges they enjoyed.
@DavidtheKanoi why do you see there is little we can do when it’s our representatives in the Knesset who are the main people pushing this proposed law.
Some of these “reforms” are legit but allowing a political hack and convicted felon like Deri back into the government degrades all who vote for it.
@SchnitzelBigot The problem is that if such a law were to be passed, the left wing judiciary would let it become law.
@SchnitzelBigot The right wing argument is that it cant get much worse than what it is at the moment.
Shnitzelbigot, if there were an actual constitution you’d have a point. But the “unwritten” constitution is something the self-appointed supreme court made up. So it should not be able to override a clear majority of the elected legislature.
GHD, Deri has every right to be in the cabinet simply because his voters voted for him and their votes are part of the government. They knew his history and they voted for him anyway; they are entitled to the representation they want. The law already says so, and the new law will merely make it more explicit.
Why should he be excluded anyway? Criminals can sit in Congress and can’t be excluded from it. Even convicted criminals, if they are elected the house has no choice but to seat them. Congress has even consistently taken the position that it can’t expel a member for any offense committed before the term began, let alone one that’s already been dealt with by the judicial system.
In addition Deri’s plea deal was made with the explicit understanding on both sides that he would be back in the Knesset after the next election. The idea that the state thought he was retiring from politics has been proven to be a flat-out lie.