Latest JC articles on Israeli Govt.

January 27, 2023

On Saturday 21 January over 100,000 people across five Israeli cities took to the streets to demonstrate against the government’s judicial overhaul plans.The Likud-led coalition’s proposals would transfer unprecedented authority to the legislature to scrap Supreme Court rulings.The wave of protests came after President Isaac Herzog held talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, opposition leader Yair Lapid, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, and Supreme Court President Ester Hayut in a bid to broach the brewing dispute. However, Mr Netanyahu has vowed to "complete" the controversial plans.Israel's Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has slammed the plans, which would allow a Knesset majority to overrule High Court decisions, as a sign Israel could become a “democracy in name only”.Israel Democracy Institute polling released in December found that over half of Israelis disagreed with plans to scrap the High Court's veto, Mr Netanyahu's supporters claim the change is a reasonable response to progressive judicial activism.Last week Chairman of the Constitution Committee Simcha Rothman published plans that could further ramp up the remit of the government's plans. The Religious Zionism MK suggests only permitting Supreme Court judges to invalidate a law if all 15 judges unanimously vote to do so. Meanwhile, Justice Minister Levin has only proposed allowing the Court to scrap Knesset proposals if 80 per cent of judges consented.The overhauls could aid the Prime Minister, who himself remains on trial over accusations of corruption and fraud, and was last week forced to dismiss Health and Interior Minister Ayreh Deri after the High Court said the Shas leader's role was "unreasonable in the extreme" due to his convictions on charges of tax fraud.

Bibi takes surprise trip to Amman amid soaring Temple Mount tensions

On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a surprise trip to Jordan, marking his first foreign trip since returning to office last month.Meeting with King Abdullah II in Amman, the Likud leader sought to reassure Jordanian officials that Israel wished to maintain the status quo at the Temple Mount. The pair last held talks in 2018.“The two leaders discussed regional issues, especially strategic, security and economic cooperation between Israel and Jordan, which contributes to regional stability,” a statement from the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office read.“They also praised the long-standing friendship and partnership between Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom,” they went on.In November 2019, King Abdullah complained that Jordan's relations with the Jewish State were "at an all-time low", due to Israel’s domestic issues and the failure to achieve a two-state solution after peace negotiations came to a halt in 2014.“King Abdullah stressed the importance of maintaining the current situation at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in his talk with the Israeli prime minister,” the palace in Amman said in a statement about Tuesday’s meeting.The two Middle Eastern neighbours maintain diplomatic and economic relations under their 1994 joint peace treaty.Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said in light of the talks: "I do not conduct my policy regarding the Temple Mount according to the policy of the Jordanian government”.“With all due respect to Jordan, Israel is an independent country. I assume the Americans understand freedom of movement; in the United States, no person would be prevented from going anywhere just because he is a Jew,” he went on.Jews are currently only permitted to visit the Mount, home to the Al Aqsa mosque as well as the site of the Second Temple, during specific time slots due to political sensitivities surrounding the area.Jordan expressed its frustration earlier this month when Mr Ben-Gvir visited the Temple Mount compound, describing the visit as a: “storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and violation of its sanctity,” despite the Israeli minister having not approached the area’s mosque.