The rulings of this past year have only strengthened the “Anyone but Bibi” camp, which now can’t present valid legal grounds for its petitions against the prime minister.
by Jacob Bardugo, ISRAEL HAYOM
Toward the end of the arguments before the 11 High Court justices, the attorney for the petitioners started to make an election speech based on inflammatory claims about a collapse of rule of law, law enforcement being trampled, and various other lofty arguments. The petitioner warned the judges about what might happen if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were to form the next government and serve as its leader. According to the attorney, the events of the past few months would be peanuts compared to what would follow. “The fortress will come down!” she warned.
Chief Justice Esther Hayut stopped the flood of words, calling “populism.”
“The Supreme Court is not a fortress,” Hayut said.
That is an important, correct observation, and it’s good that it was stated but the Supreme Court’s rulings this past year have only fanned the flames of the “Anyone but Bibi” camp, and the High Court is to a large extent responsible for the theater of the absurd currently running between its walls.
A full day of arguments by the petitioners could have been summed up in one sentence: the Supreme Court wants to replace the MKs in the legislative branch and pass a basic law that would prevent Netanyahu from forming a government.
All the fuss stressed the precipice to which the High Court justices have brought the country. The petitioners explained pompously how the justices needed to act in order to secure the desired results. They sprinkled legal jargon around the hall of justice: “Model of judgment,” “indirect attack,” “constructive steps,” “core basic values,” etc.
Throughout the entire day, the petitioners never answered one fundamental question: what exactly are the legal grounds for their petition? Unfortunately for them, the lawyers representing the legislative body, the President’s Residence, and the head of the executive branch announced simply that the court must not intervene in the decision made by members of the legislative branch. It was a constitutional political decision that has nothing to do with administrative issues, and therefore should not be evaluated by the criteria applied to other affairs having to do with administrative decisions.
It was so frustrating to hear the head of the High Court Petitions Division, on behalf of Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit, making legal arguments that went wide of the mark. Unlike the legal advisors for the legislative entity and for Netanyahu himself, Mendelblit gave his opinion, which was that Netanyahu can form a government with some fancy administrative stepping. Along with that, he tried to keep the sword of an upset over Netanyahu’s head, hinting that the opinion was temporary and might wind up changing.
Months ago, when the question was placed before him, Mendelblit knowingly chose not to present the opinion that allows Netanyahu to form a government. Now we all know that the attorney general chose to keep the power of threat close to the prime minister. In so doing, Mendelblit allowed the “Anyone but Bibi” camp to incite the public and the media against Netanyahu for months.
According to a report by Gidi Weitz in Haaretz, Mendelblit recently explained that he has recently felt that people are listening in on his phone conversations, and behaves as though he is under surveillance. He hinted that Netanyahu wanted to remove him from public life, and think that it would be dangerous for the country if Netanyahu remained in power because he will work to smash the legal and justice systems.
Obviously, Mendelblit is suffering from severe vertigo. The attorney general would do well to give back his keys, and sooner rather than later.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/high-court-unanimously-rejects-petitions-against-netanyahu-coalition-deal/
As far as Bibi is concerned, where did the assumption of innocence until proven guilty go?
As far as the judges of the supreme court are concerned, it is time for them to stop interfering in government issues and provide guidance based on the existing laws. If no law exists for a particular case, their guidance might even be gratefully accepted by the Knesset rather than their personal opinions on every bit of legislation being forced down the throats of the MKs.
As far as AG Mandelblit is concerned, he has completely failed to hold up his side of the agreement and has done his best to sandbag Bibi wherever he can, whether necessary or not.
The same madness that we observe in this country.
This just in from Arutz Sheva: “AG to Supreme Court: ‘Don’t disqualify coalition agreement’
AG announces following Likud/Blue & White clarification, no reason to rule coalition agreement or any of its clauses should be invalidated.
Mordechai Sones , 05/05/20 20:21
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Mandelblit
MandelblitFlash 90
Attorney General Dr. Avichai Mandelblit submitted his response to the Supreme Court in response to a clarification by the Likud and Blue and White factions, following the court’s decision yesterday.
In the clarification, the factions jointly announced that the government’s basic guidelines would be introduced upon its inauguration, the restriction on Knesset legislation would be abolished, and the freeze on senior appointments would be cut to a hundred days only.”
The latest from the Jerusalem Post and Arutz Sheva is that Gantz and Netanyahu have proposed alterations in their coalition agreement to the Supreme Cout in order to avoid having them declare the agreement illegal. The most important concession is to allow the Attorney General to appoint a new chief prosecutor only 100 days after the new agreement goes into effect, Tha tis a concession that Mandelblit badly wants. He has made it clear that he will recommend that the court veto this provision of the coalition agreement unless he gets what he wants.