Basic Law

Ministerial committee approves Torah Study bill amid coalition tensions

Netanyahu’s coalition advances the Torah Study law, despite opposition and warnings that the bill could worsen draft evasion amid Israel’s manpower shortage.

|ByKESHET NEEV
Shas leader MK Aryeh Deri seen during a Shas party meeting, at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, on January 23, 2023.
SHAS PARTY leader Arye Deri visits military prison expressing support for draft evaders, Sunday, June 7, 2026.

Deri says Shas supports draft evaders during prison visit, calls to add Torah study to Basic Law

The visit was made to the Neve Tzedek Military Prison, and Deri was accompanied by other lawmakers from his party, including MK Michael Malkieli and Haim Biton.

|ByKESHET NEEV
A VOTE on the death penalty for terrorists who murder Israeli civilians at the auditorium in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, March 30, 2026.

Israel's new death penalty law marks moral break, sparks discrimination fears, expert says

For Prof. Yoram Rabin, a criminal and constitutional law scholar and president of the College of Management Academic Studies, the law is both a moral rupture and a legally vulnerable one.

|BySARAH BEN-NUN
Matanyahu Englman

Chaos of October 7: What any inquiry must uncover - opinion

With the state comptroller blocked, citizens must focus on the questions a future inquiry into the failures leading up to the October 7 massacre.

|ByYISRAEL MEDAD

Israel needs a constitution to avoid crisis - analysis

Opposition and protest leaders said immediately after the Knesset vote that the real struggle begins now. 

JULY 25, 2023ByHERB KEINON
Protest against the government's judicial reform, July 24, 2023.

Israel's Bar joins barrage of High Court petitions against new law

The purpose of the law, the Israeli Bar contended, was to "immunize" the heads of the executive authority from acting within the bounds of reason.

JULY 25, 2023ByMICHAEL STARR
Judicial reform opponent Amit Becher casts his ballot for the head of the Israeli Bar Association, at a voting station in Tel Aviv on June 20, 2023.

NGOs prepare High Court petitions against reasonableness

If the petition is accepted, it would be the first time the court heard arguments to abolish a matter of a Basic Law.

JULY 24, 2023ByMICHAEL STARR
THE HIGH Court of Justice has been a paper tiger in everything concerning the Netanyahu bloc’s interests, says the writer

Reasonableness issue requires serious and consensual discussion - opinion

A government that wants to act in its citizens’ interests, in a professional manner and on the basis of appropriate considerations, has nothing to fear from the test of reasonableness.

JULY 14, 2023BySUZIE NAVOT
PRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu congratulates Justice Minister Yariv Levin and other coalition members on Monday night, after the passage in first reading of the reasonableness bill.

The major legal issues of the last 75 years that altered Israeli society

LEGAL AFFAIRS: Consulting with Israel's legal professionals has exposed major issues that have plagued the Israeli public since the state was founded.

APRIL 29, 2023ByMICHAEL STARR
THE SUPREME COURT in Jerusalem – a focus of change in Israeli society over the last 75 years.

Will the Knesset be back to judicial reform mayhem post-recess?

Political affairs: The new Knesset’s first session was dominated by the judicial overhaul controversy. What should we expect when it resumes its activity on April 30?

APRIL 8, 2023ByELIAV BREUER
MEMBERS OF THE opposition react during a past speech by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir in the Knesset.

What is in Herzog’s judicial reform ‘People’s Outline?’ - explainer

President Isaac Herzog presented his judicial reform outline on Wednesday night

MARCH 15, 2023ByMICHAEL STARR
The High Court of Justice during a hearing

'Deri Law 2.0' passes committee vote, heads to plenum for first reading

The law proposal's purpose is to enable Netanyahu to reinstate Deri after the High Court struck down his appointment last month.

MARCH 15, 2023ByELIAV BREUER
Head of the Shas party Aryeh Deri, leads a faction meeting, at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, on February 6, 2023.

Impairment Law passes in special committee vote to go to Knesset

The Impairment Law amends a provision in the quasi-constitutional Basic Law: Government and will now proceed to an initial Knesset vote.

MARCH 13, 2023ByMICHAEL STARR
MK Simcha Rotman, Head of the Constitution Committee, at a committee vote on the judicial reform legislation at the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament in Jerusalem on March 5, 2023.

Judicial reform legislation to barrel ahead this week

Herzog warned that the legislation being prepared for readings in the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee “is wrong, predatory and dismantles our democratic foundations..."

MARCH 11, 2023ByELIAV BREUER
MK Simcha Rotman, Head of the Constitution Committee, at a committee vote on the judicial reform legislation at the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament in Jerusalem on March 5, 2023.