Israeli cabinet members yesterday voted to defy a Supreme Court decision regarding the country’s broadcast regulator, raising concerns of a constitutional crisis.
This is the first time Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has flouted a Supreme Court ruling, although it has clashed with the judiciary in the past.
After elections in 2022, it sought to limit the court’s powers, drawing global criticism and mass protests in Israel.
The judicial reform was shelved after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, although some parts have since been resurrected.
Israeli law requires the Second Authority for Television and Radio to have a minimum number of members to make decisions. The government argues that because the council no longer meets that requirement, it has no authority to approve appointments or take other actions.
However, on June 17, the court ordered the council to continue anyway.
The cabinet yesterday voted unanimously in favour of rejecting the court’s ruling, Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi and Justice Minister Yariv Levin said in a statement. The decision was swiftly condemned by opposition leaders vying to replace Netanyahu’s coalition in an upcoming election.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said ‘the government had turned criminal’.
“This is the most serious constitutional crisis in Israel’s history. It’s the destruction of the foundations of our democracy,” he said in a statement.
Karhi and Levin proposed that the government not recognise any council decisions or actions until the legal threshold for membership was met.
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