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Making good on campaign vow, Netanyahu government introduces bill to diminish Israel’s top court
(JTA) — Israel’s new government is wasting little time before following through on a central promise made by its leading politicians: to reshape the country’s judiciary and give lawmakers more power over it.
Yariv Levin, the newly appointed justice minister, on Wednesday announced planned legislation that would severely limit the Israeli Supreme Court’s ability to review and overturn laws and pledged to increase governmental control over the appointment of judges. Under his proposal, a majority of 61 Knesset members could override Supreme Court rulings, effectively ensuring that any governing coalition could override rulings it does not like.
Those moves are seen as overdue by leaders of the country’s right-wing parties, who think the judiciary has veered too far to the left. In recent years, the Supreme Court has banned Israeli construction on private Palestinian lands in the West Bank, forced the acceptance of non-Orthodox conversions and guaranteed some rights to gay couples — all of which the new government opposes.
The proposal’s critics, who include the political opposition as well as an array of liberal and nonpartisan groups in Israel and the Diaspora, say the moves would shatter Israel’s system of checks and balance and cut away at the country’s credential as the only authentic democracy in the Middle East.
“A country that removes basic democratic checks and balances and eviscerates the independence of the judiciary can no longer seriously be referred to as a full democracy,” the CEO of the New Israel Fund, Daniel Sokatch, said in a statement. He added, “The international community, including the United States government, should see this move for what it is — a lurch towards autocracy.”
“It is excruciating to see this government directly undermine the core values of democracy and religious freedom that we value so deeply,” said a statement by the Rabbinical Assembly, the Conservative movement’s rabbinical group.
A majority of Israelis believe that the Supreme Court should retain the right to strike down Knesset laws that conflict with the country’s “basic laws,” which are widely considered tantamount to a constitution, a poll conducted last month by the Israel Democracy Institute found. But the respondents were deeply divided by their religious orientation; 15% of haredi Orthodox Jews said the court should retain that right, while 76% of secular Israelis said so.
Yedidya Stern, the head of the Jewish People Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank based in Jerusalem, said in a statement that the question of how the judiciary should be structured should not be subject to normal political decision making.
“This is a question that deserves to be discussed in a substantive manner, with a careful examination of the benefits and risks to the public relating to each of the proposals on their own merits,” said Stern, whose group does not typically criticize Israeli government leaders. “A process of politicization of the judicial system imperils its independence and must be opposed.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would support the legislation; he has campaigned against the judiciary since facing corruption charges, for which a trial is ongoing. The proposed changes come as the high court justices are set to debate a new law, opposed by the country’s attorney general, that allows people convicted of tax crimes to serve in the Cabinet. The law is designed to ensure a ministerial role for Aryeh Deri, who is currently serving a suspended sentence for tax fraud. Deri criticized Levin for unveiling the judicial reform proposal so close to his hearing.
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Lebanon Plans UN Complaint Against Israel Over Border Wall
A UN vehicle drives near a concrete wall along Lebanon’s southern border which, according to the Lebanese presidency, extends beyond the “Blue Line”, a U.N.-mapped line separating Lebanon from Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, as seen from northern Israel, November 16, 2025. REUTERS/Shir Torem
Lebanon will file a complaint to the U.N. Security Council against Israel for constructing a concrete wall along Lebanon’s southern border that extends beyond the “Blue Line,” the Lebanese presidency said on Saturday.
The Blue Line is a U.N.-mapped line separating Lebanon from Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Israeli forces withdrew to the Blue Line when they left south Lebanon in 2000.
A spokesperson for the U.N. secretary-general, Stephane Dujarric, said on Friday the wall has made more than 4,000 square meters (nearly an acre) of Lebanese territory inaccessible to the local population.
The Lebanese presidency echoed his remarks, saying in a statement that Israel’s ongoing construction constituted “a violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 and an infringement on Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Dujarric said the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) had requested that the wall be removed.
An Israeli military spokesperson denied on Friday that the wall crossed the Blue Line.
“The wall is part of a broader IDF plan whose construction began in 2022,” the spokesperson said, referring to the Israel Defense Forces.
“Since the start of the war, and as part of lessons learned from it, the IDF has been advancing a series of measures, including reinforcing the physical barrier along the northern border.”
UNIFIL, established in 1978, operates between the Litani River in the north and the Blue Line in the south. The mission has more than 10,000 troops from 50 countries and about 800 civilian staff, according to its website.
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Iran Says US Is Not Ready for ‘Equal and Fair’ Nuclear Talks
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi speaks during a meeting with foreign ambassadors in Tehran, Iran, July 12, 2025. Photo: Hamid Forootan/Iranian Foreign Ministry/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
Washington’s current approach toward Tehran does not indicate any readiness for “equal and fair negotiations,” Iran’s foreign minister said on Sunday, after US President Donald Trump hinted last week at potential discussions.
Following Israel’s attack on Iran in June, which was joined by U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, attempts at renewing dialogue on Tehran’s nuclear program have failed.
The United States, its European allies and Israel accuse Tehran of using its nuclear program as a veil for efforts to develop the capability to produce weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.
Tehran and Washington underwent five rounds of indirect nuclear talks prior to the 12-days-war, but faced obstacles such as the issue of domestic uranium enrichment, which the U.S. wants Iran to forego.
“The U.S. cannot expect to gain what it couldn’t in war through negotiations,” Abbas Araqchi said during a Tehran conference named “international law under assault.”
“Iran will always be prepared to engage in diplomacy, but not negotiations meant for dictation,” he added.
During the same conference, deputy foreign minister Saeed Khatibzadeh accused Washington of pursuing its wartime goals with “negotiations as a show.”
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Israeli Government Decides ‘Independent’ Commission to Investigate Oct. 7 Failures
The Israeli Supreme Court in Jerusalem. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
i24 News – The Israeli government has approved the creation of an “independent” commission of inquiry to examine the failures that enabled the Hamas assault of October 7, 2023.
However, in a move sharply criticized by the opposition and contrary to the recommendation of the Supreme Court, the panel will not be a formal state commission of inquiry. Instead, its mandate, authorities, and scope will be determined directly by government ministers.
According to the decision, the commission will receive full investigative powers and must be composed in a way that ensures “the broadest possible public trust.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will form a special ministerial committee tasked with defining what the inquiry may investigate, the time periods to be reviewed, and the authority it will receive. The committee has 45 days to deliver its recommendations.
For the past year, the government has repeatedly resisted calls to establish a state commission, arguing at first that such a body could not operate during wartime. Later, some ministers accused Supreme Court President Isaac Amit of being incapable of appointing an impartial chairperson.
But on October 15, the High Court of Justice ruled that there was “no substantive argument” against forming a state commission, giving the government 30 days to respond.
Netanyahu maintains that responsibility for the October 7 failures lies primarily with Israel’s security agencies rather than with political leaders.
His critics accuse him of creating a weaker, government-controlled inquiry designed to limit scrutiny of his decisions, undermining the prospect of full accountability for the deadliest attack in Israel’s history.