TR EMERITUS

The court’s 8-7 ruling has the potential to throw Israel’s national emergency government, formed after the Oct. 7 attacks, into disarray and reignite the grave domestic turmoil that began a year ago over the Netanyahu government’s judicial overhaul plan. This decision will galvanize right-wing pressure for a wider war with Hezbollah, et al. in the North. The hard right has long wanted another round against Hezbollah (at least), and Netanyahu needs Smotrich, Ben-Gvir, to keep his coalition, likely his job, and maybe his freedom. So Ben-Gvir will reprise his earlier threat to leave the coalition if Netanyahu continued the cease-fire as a demand for revenge against Hezbollah for ejecting Israel from south Lebanon in 2000 and standing up to them in 2006.

There is a committee that includes representatives from the ruling coalition, the opposition, the lawyers’ professional guild, and two Supreme Court justices. Bibi’s government wants to shift the composition of this committee to give itself the POWER to appoint all judges. No side has a majority so they have to arrive at a consensus. Next time, the court will be unable to decide by such a majority of one that the law was passed in the legislature by too small a majority. This is a lame duck court opposing a lame duck legislature.