Will Netanyahu Sink Judicial Reform?

Even the best causes can be tainted by association with the wrong advocates. That might be the fate of the movement for reform of the Israeli legal system.

Last Tuesday, MK Miki Zohar (Likud), a close ally of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, introduced a bill in the Knesset that would provide immunity from prosecution for any MK, unless the Knesset votes to lift immunity. Zohar insisted that he was not acting at the behest of the embattled Netanyahu, who pledged during the recent election campaign that he would not introduce any legislation to change the immunity law.

Zohar’s claim, however, was greeted with widespread skepticism. And due to the possibility that the Israeli Supreme Court would find the change to the immunity law defective, it is further rumored that Netanyahu is preparing legislation that would limit the Court’s power to strike down Knesset legislation.

In 2004, when the Knesset immunity statute for MKs was virtually identical to that proposed by Zohar, the Supreme Court ruled that the Knesset’s refusal to remove the immunity of two Knesset members was improper. So suspicions that the Supreme Court would not be stymied by Zohar’s bill alone are well founded.