WASHINGTON — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet greenlit a resolution Sunday committing to ignore the country’s supreme court order against allowing its media regulator to convene.
The resolution marks the first time an Israeli government has committed to openly defying the country’s highest court, paving the way for a constitutional crisis to rock the Jewish state.
“You have no power to trample the law. A ruling that contradicts the law will not be recognized, and decisions made under it are void,” the Netanyahu government declared.
At issue is the supreme court’s June 17 ruling that blocked new appointments to Israel’s Second Authority for Television and Radio — an agency similar to America’s Federal Communications Commission.
The high court further opted to restore the previous Second Authority for Television and Radio, despite concerns that it had dropped below the legal headcount needed to operate under its quorum.
Israel’s supreme court blamed the government’s “deliberate obstruction and paralysis” for the resignations that led to the regulatory agency dipping below quorum. It also pointed to a “puzzling proximity in time” between the various resignations on the panel.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi and Justice Minister Yariv Levin together rolled out the formal cabinet resolution to defy the ruling, with Netanyahu’s backing.
They argued that the high court overstepped its powers and deviated from the letter of the law in its ruling.
“High Court judges are not the Knesset, and a fit of power does not grant authority to erase an explicit threshold condition from the law, even if it is inconvenient for them,” Karhi contended.
“The rule of law is not the rule of the judges. Today, the government has clearly stated: when the High Court tramples the law, the state will not lend a hand to it. Two-thirds is a legal requirement, not a recommendation, and a council that does not meet the threshold conditions set by the legislature does not exist.”
Looming over the standoff is the pending approval of the sale of Reshet 13, one of Israel’s top commercial TV networks, to tech entrepreneurs.
Israel’s opposition quickly denounced the move by Netanyahu’s government and Israeli President Isaac Herzog warned against defying the country’s highest court.
“Statements of noncompliance with Supreme Court rulings harm the core of unity in the people,” Herzog warned in response to the Netanyahu cabinet’s move, per a translation. “I have already clarified this, and I will repeat it again and again – noncompliance with a court ruling is a red line that must not be crossed under any circumstances.”
In Israel, the presidency is a largely ceremonial role, though it does have some key powers, while the prime minister has most of the executive authority. Herzog once led the Labor Party, which opposes Netanyahu.
For years, Netanyahu and his government have butted heads with the judiciary in Israel. Prior to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, he sparked mass protests by seeking to push through a judicial reform package.
Elections in Israel are poised to take place in October.
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