West Jerusalem – The Israeli Supreme Court has held its first hearing on petitions challenging the first pillar of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s divisive judicial overhaul.
Netanyahu’s far-right government forced the bill – which curtails the power of the judiciary to strike down laws found by the court to be “extremely unreasonable” – through parliament in July despite mass protests and strikes, including dissent within the military.
The session was held on Tuesday in front of all 15 members of the Supreme Court, for the first time in Israel’s history, highlighting the importance the body is giving to the decision.
“Democracy does not die with a few major blows, but rather with many small steps,” Israeli Supreme Court judge Isaac Amit said during the hearing.
The court eventually decided to give the lawyers in court 21 days to add to their argument.
Esther Hayut, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, sat in the middle of the Justices’ semi-circular table where she led the hearing, facing a parallel table overflowing with lawyers representing the government, and a group of eight petitioners seeking to have the court overrule the bill.
Original from www.aljazeera.com rnrn