Israel’s parliament approves a key part of Netanyahu’s divisive judicial overhaul

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel's parliament on Thursday passed a key part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to overhaul the judiciary, angering critics who view it as a power grab by his far-right government.

The planned overhaul sparked mass demonstrations in 2023, leaving the country deeply divided before Hamas' Oct. 7 attack that year which triggered the war in the Gaza Strip. The revival of the plans in recent weeks has added fuel to protests over Netanyahu’s handling of the Gaza hostage crisis and his recent moves to fire or sideline top officials.

The law passed Thursday gives the government a larger role in appointing judges.

It would give another two of the nine seats on the Judicial Selection Committee to lawyers chosen by the government and the opposition. Those seats are currently held by the Israeli Bar Association. The political appointees would have the power to veto nominations to the Supreme Court and lower courts.

Supporters of the measure say it gives more power to elected officials. Netanyahu, who is on trial over corruption allegations, has long portrayed himself as the victim of a "deep state" made up of unelected officials, as well law enforcement and hostile media.

Critics say the changes would undermine an independent body that provides essential checks and balances. The law wouldn’t take effect until the next Knesset, and the opposition has vowed to repeal it if it regains power.

Debate ran through the night before the bill was passed early Thursday. Most of Israel's opposition boycotted the final vote, where the measure passed 67-1. They vowed immediately to repeal it, saying in a statement that the law "had one goal - to ensure that judges become subject to the will of politicians."

Justice Minister Yariv Levin, the architect of the judicial overhaul, called it a "historic and necessary change" that would open the judicial system to "everyone, including those with a different agenda, including those from a different background."

Petitions against the law have already been filed with the Supreme Court.

The law constitutes a dramatic change in the "basic structure" of parliamentary democracy in Israel, the Movement for Quality of Government said in its petition. Eliad Shraga, chair of the group, accused the government of "exploiting a time of war as a smokescreen to advance a political agenda."

The law would shift the balance of the judicial committee toward political appointees, who would hold six seats instead of four. The government would appoint four and the opposition would appoint two.

A new mechanism for breaking deadlocks over appointments would result in more extreme candidates getting appointed, with much of the process devolving into political bargaining, said Amichai Cohen, a constitutional law professor and senior research fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute.

That would undermine the courts’ ability to serve as a check on government power, he said, predicting that Levin would use the mechanism to appoint one of the far-right justices who helped him plan the overhaul.

"This has the potential to completely undermine the independence, the impartiality, the professionalism of the system," he said, adding that judicial independence is especially important in Israel because the country has a relatively weak system of checks and balances.

Unlike in the United States, where Congress and the courts are designed to act as a check on the executive branch, Israel’s government and parliamentary majority work in tandem, leaving the judiciary as the main counterbalance.

In the U.S., Congress has two houses that operate independently of the president and can limit his power. But in Israel, the prime minister and his majority coalition in parliament work in tandem. That leaves the judiciary to play a large role in checking executive power in the country.

Israel’s government put the judicial overhaul on hold after the outbreak of the war in Gaza, and in January 2024, the Supreme Court shot down another key component that would have prevented judges from striking down some government decisions.

The effort regained momentum this month after Israel ended its ceasefire with Hamas and resumed its offensive. That helped solidify Netanyahu’s governing coalition, which relies on far-right parties that want to continue the war. His government then cleared a major hurdle this week when it passed a budget, making it more likely that it will survive until the next planned election in October 2026.