Supreme Court of Israel Holds Second Hearing on the Incapacitation Law: Should the Court Invalidate the Law?

A composition of 11 judges of the Supreme Court of Israel is listening to two requests in which the court is requested to interfere and invalidate the Incapacitation Law. This is the second hearing on the issue after the court issued an order directing the state to explain why it would not delay the law until the next Knesset.

The judges argue that the law, which was clearly legislated for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is therefore personal legislation.

The hearing began with a confrontation between Prime Minister Netanyahu’s lawyer, Michael Rabello, and the judges. The lawyer stated that the court has no authority to annul a basic law and stressed that, in his opinion, “delaying the application of the law is like annulling a basic law.”

Supreme Court Vice President Uzi Fogleman responded: “Sir, you cannot claim that we have no authority. First you have to mention our legal positivism.”

Rabello continued: “We live in a democratic country. Knesset members do not want to live in a reality where one factor has the ability to change the rules of the game.” Judge Dafna Barak-Erez replied: “All other roads are blocked.”

Supreme Court President Esther Hayut noted that an amendment to a basic law to allow a rotational government had been harshly criticized, and lawyer Rabello responded: “There is a difference between a criticism and a ruling.” To this, Hayut replied: “There is a difference. “When criticism is not heard, we have to govern.”