Constitutional ‘Basic Laws’ in Israel take a hit from new unity agreement

by Jordan Hilger, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Constitutional scholars in Israel are crying foul about the new unity agreement signed by alternating Prime Ministers Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, saying it destroys the separation of powers necessary to democratic governance.

Haviv Rettig Gur at the Times of Israel reports that the deal signed Monday after eighteen months of political stalemate introduces “convoluted amendments to Israel’s constitutional Basic Laws,” among which are an outline for an “emergency” government empowered to strike down legislation not connected to coronavirus.

“Someone who respects the concept of Basic Laws, who sees in them a constitutional text, can’t possibly like this,” former Supreme Court Justice Elyakim Rubinstein told Israel Radio on Thursday. “The [Basic Laws] are being trampled as if they were a sewage bylaw of the Raanana municipality.”

As further stipulations of the new agreement, the Knesset will only be able to pass laws that contravene the will of Netanyahu or Gantz if legislation receives the backing of 75 of the parliament’s 120 MKs, and new elections will be called and parliament disbanded if Netanyahu is indicted within six months.

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