Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin Revives Controversial Judicial Reform Plan That Sparked 2023 Protests

Israel’s Justice Minister Yariv Levin is once again talking about bringing before the Knesset his government’s controversial judicial reform plan which it first put forward in January 2023, just a few months after it was first elected. Levin apparently feels the time has come to resurrect the reform plan after it was shelved due to the ongoing Iron Swords War against Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

“Since the formation of the government, I have been fighting to fundamentally change things. To change the composition of the Supreme Court, to amend the system of legal advice to the government and to put an end to selective enforcement,” Yariv Levin wrote on social media.

“The time has come for all the members of the coalition, all the factions and all the members of the Knesset, to announce as one man their unequivocal support for the moves that were led and stopped, and for any other move necessary to change the situation,” he added. “The time has come for full support to be given to the restoration of the justice system and the law enforcement systems.”

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Massive protests rocked Israel in the months after January 2023, when Justice Minister Yariv Levin revealed the government’s plans to alter the nature of Israel’s judicial system, until the October 7 massacre. The government’s judicial reform plan would greatly curtail the power of Israel’s Supreme Court to nullify legislation passed by the Knesset and also limit the authority of Israel’s attorney general. The opposition charges this would harm Israel’s democracy, eroding foreign confidence in the country and hurting its economy. And this is why the country is was on the brink of what some described during that period as the biggest societal clash in Israel’s history.

Israel’s political opposition is, of course, critical of Yariv Levin’s words. They assert that this is still not the time to revisit such controversial political programs, not while Israel is still fighting two wars – one in Gaza and another in Lebanon.

Benny Gantz, an opposition leader in the Knesset and a former minister of defense, tweeted just that writing, “The coup d’état led by Yariv Levin brought disaster to the State of Israel, tore us apart from the inside, and has a large part in the fact that we reached Shiva in October. The fact that he barely mentions the idea of returning to it while the entire Israeli society is mobilized for a difficult war, proves that not only has he not learned his lesson – he is also an irresponsible person.”

“The entire government and the Prime Minister have the ultimate responsibility to remove the issue from the chapter quickly, sharply and clearly,” added Gantz.