Explainer-Netanyahu government challenge to Supreme Court reignites judicial row

JERUSALEM, July 6 - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has threatened to fight a Supreme Court order regarding a media regulator, reigniting a judicial row that shook Israel in the months leading up to Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack.

The decision comes ahead of a national election expected by late October.

WHAT DID THE GOVERNMENT SAY?

In a statement on Sunday, the government said that a June 17 ruling by the Supreme Court regarding the composition of the Second Authority for Television and Radio was a clear case of judicial overreach.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said that such a ruling will not be respected.

Levin led the government's 2023 push to curb the powers of the Supreme Court, which sparked mass protests in Israel and was shelved after Hamas' attack. In recent months, however, Netanyahu's nationalist-religious coalition has revived some parts of the contentious judicial overhaul plan.

WHAT DOES THE DECLARATION MEAN?

The declaration will have little to no practical impact on the media regulator, but critics argue that its significance is broader because it undermines the rule of law and the democratic foundations of the state. They say it also risks plunging Israel into chaos and a constitutional crisis by pitting the executive branch against the judiciary.

"Apparently nothing really happened, but essentially something very dramatic did happen," said Dina Zilber, Israel's former deputy attorney general. Zilber said that for the first time the government used its own formal executive powers to flout a court order, delivering "a harsh blow to the rule of law and to the separation of powers."

WHAT IS THE POLITICAL CONTEXT?

Israel is due to hold elections by late October though the precise date has yet to be set. Opinion polls have shown Netanyahu's right-wing coalition will lose the ballot.

Netanyahu's Likud party is expected to hold primaries ahead of the election and ministers vying for a top spot may seek to score points with their voter base by highlighting measures against the judiciary and media. Both have often been cast by Netanyahu's coalition as left-wing elitist institutions.

WHAT HAS NETANYAHU SAID?

Netanyahu himself has yet to speak publicly about the government declaration.

His Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs downplayed ministers Levin and Karhi's rhetoric, saying there was no call for disobeying the court's decision in the government statement but rather sharp criticism of the court and a declaration by the government that it will use all legal means at its disposal to overturn the court order.

Matters of media and the judiciary are hot-button issues for Netanyahu because he is on trial for corruption charges, which he denies. Two of the three criminal cases involve alleged regulatory favours to media moguls.

Netanyahu has cast his trial as a political left-wing witch-hunt meant to overthrow a democratically elected right-wing leader.

WHAT HAS THE REACTION BEEN?

Critics argue that his government has launched an assault on democracy while seeking to steer public attention from the security failures of the October 7 attack and the toll exacted on Israelis by more than two years of war that ensued in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.

Israel's President Isaac Herzog, Opposition Head Yair Lapid and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara have all come out against the declaration. REUTERS