Netanyahu government’s challenge to Supreme Court reignites judicial row

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.

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.

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."

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.

-Reuters