The Exec­u­tive Coun­cil of Aus­tralian Jew­ry (the ECAJ), the peak rep­re­sen­ta­tive body of the Aus­tralian Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ty, has voiced its con­cerns about the Knesset’s deci­sion to abol­ish the Israeli Supreme Court’s pow­er to over­turn gov­ern­ment deci­sions and appoint­ments it deems “unrea­son­able”.

“Regard­less of one’s views about the mer­its or oth­er­wise of the var­i­ous com­po­nents of the judi­cial over­haul’ in Israel, the man­ner in which the removal of the Supreme Court’s abil­i­ty to apply a “rea­son­able­ness test” has been steam-rollered into law is shred­ding Israel’s social con­sen­sus and adverse­ly impact­ing on Israel’s inter­na­tion­al rep­u­ta­tion”, said ECAJ Pres­i­dent Jil­lian Segal.

“Israelis of all polit­i­cal stripes have tak­en to the streets to protest these changes. The sit­u­a­tion demands a com­pro­mise, as called for by Israel’s Pres­i­dent. It is a supreme irony that as we approach Tisha B’Av, the hard lessons of Jew­ish his­to­ry about the dan­gers of inter­nal dis­uni­ty seem to have been for­got­ten.”

Ms Segal added, “In every mature democ­ra­cy there are con­straints on the pow­ers of the elect­ed gov­ern­ment, usu­al­ly in the form of a Con­sti­tu­tion, a par­lia­men­tary upper house of review and acknowl­edged con­ven­tions. Israel has no such restraints. The Courts pro­vide the only checks and bal­ances. Even if a gov­ern­ment is demo­c­ra­t­i­cal­ly elect­ed, if it has untram­melled pow­ers that can ride roughshod over fun­da­men­tal rights and free­doms, this does not equate with democ­ra­cy. It is well past time for the Israeli gov­ern­ment to call a halt to the judi­cial over­haul and to search in earnest for a con­sen­sus, as Pres­i­dent Her­zog has called for.”

Con­tact:
Peter Wertheim AM | co-Chief Exec­u­tive Offi­cer
phone: 02 8353 8500 | m: 0408 160 904 | fax 02 9361 5888
e: pwertheim@ecaj.org.au | www.ecaj.org.au