Israel’s judicial crisis still simmering during war

Days before the 7 October 2023 massacre, Israelis spent months protesting on the streets in their tens of thousands against a judicial overhaul, which is hard to believe nearly two years into the war.

That’s according to Ruvi Ziegler, a British Israeli law professor at Reading University, who told Limmud Johannesburg that the biggest strength of those massive weekly demonstrations was they had a sole focus: the legal overhaul.

Ziegler said the perfect storm was created nearly three years ago, with three different parties who didn’t want the Israeli High Court of Justice, or Supreme Court, to have the amount of power it has. These were the Religious Zionists; the Haredi community; and Benjamin Netanyahu himself, who, before 7 October 2023 was going through a corruption trial at the Jerusalem District Court.

“Even right-wing parties or centre-right parties, like the party of Benny Gantz, people who are not to be suspected of being on the left or the centre or centre-right of Israeli politics, say, ‘We will not sit with someone who is standing trial for corruption charges.’ So Netanyahu wants this coalition; he needs this coalition to remain in power.”

The overhaul sought to curtail judicial power and increase political control over the courts, shifting Israel toward stronger parliamentary supremacy. Said Ziegler, “I don’t call it judicial reform. I don’t think these are reformers; these are people who’ve come to destroy a system rather than improve it.”

So, when Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin announced a whole set of changes to the way the Israeli system works, more specifically, the Israeli judicial and legal ecosystem, it sparked unprecedented mass demonstrations across Israel, even for people who would identify as right-wing.

“People like Naftali Bennett, who is generally right-wing, they oppose these changes because they see the things that the government is trying to do as things that are undermining the rule of law; the independence of legal advice; and the ability of the courts to stand up to the executive, irrespective of the government or issue of the day,” said Ziegler.

None of the judicial overhauls have happened because either the legislation wasn’t passed, or it was struck down if it was passed. “Part of the reason for this is the demonstrations, that the government, despite having a majority, didn’t feel it could push through all of the legislation it wanted,” he said, “The other reason is Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who has been steadfast in opposing corruption in government, in ensuring that the trial of Netanyahu goes further.”

The attorney general plays two roles, being the head of the prosecution service and legal advisor to the government. Said Ziegler, “The government wants the role to remain; it just wants the person that it wants in the role.”

On 4 August 2025, the government chose to fire the attorney general. In response, the Israeli Supreme Court issued a temporary order freezing the dismissal, pending a review of its legality. Ziegler said the justice minister decided to change the locks to her office in Tel Aviv, so she couldn’t get in.

“The sacking of the attorney general is the current test that the High Court of Justice is facing. And it could very much lead to a full-on clash, because if the court said she stays in place, the government is almost certainly not going to accept that,” said Ziegler. “What happens next, we don’t know, and the reason we don’t know partly is because a lot of this has been mooted by the war; a lot of the demonstrations have been mooted by the war; a lot of the rhetoric that was very strong has been mooted by the war. This is bound to change because the agenda is still there, and so when the war is over, it will happen.”