Israel’s coalition lawmakers have passed a highly controversial law greatly increasing political power and influence over the country’s judicial appointments process.
Following a stormy overnight debate lawmakers quashed an unprecedented 71,023 objections and voted in favour of changes to the composition of the committee that selects judges.
The law passed almost completely unopposed in its third and final reading – 67-1 – after the opposition boycotted the final vote, walking out of the Knesset in protest.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin brushed aside criticism of the legislation, arguing that it was necessary because the High Court of Justice had “effectively abolished the Knesset.”
The measure will only come into effect in the next Knesset, meaning after Israel’s next general elections, which are currently scheduled for October 2026.
It will also need to survive a series of petitions immediately filed against the law by opposition parties and a government watchdog.
Addressing lawmakers ahead of the vote, National Unity chairman Benny Gantz warned that the nation was headed in a “dangerous direction.”
Quoting former Prime Minister Menachem Begin on the importance of the rule of law, Gantz stated that “democracies fall or die slowly when they suffer from a malignant disease called the tyranny of the majority,” which advances “slowly until the curtain of darkness slowly descends on society.”
Levin and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar introduced the bill to the Knesset as an ostensible compromise over previously proposed legislation that would have given the coalition almost complete control over all judicial appointments.
