“These attacks are not just the domain of private individuals and tweeters of various social networks. They are also heard, regretfully, from elected officials,” Hayut said.

Hayut was reportedly referring to remarks made last week by Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party and Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the Religious Zionist Party, who had attacked the court over a ruling in which it warned against passing future Basic Laws of the kind that extended the state budget by 11 billion shekels.

In a subsequent Facebook post on Monday, Levin wrote: “The silencing choir of the leaders of the judicial system worked overtime today, trying to guide the new legal revolution, which means the final transfer of the legislative powers from the Knesset to the Supreme Court. The attempt to delegitimize and threaten those who stand up with determination to protect the Knesset and democracy will fail.”

Smotrich also responded on Monday, tweeting: “Madam President, your verdict that disqualified a Basic Law statute is insane and a coup event, and must not be obeyed.”

Basic Laws, which have a quasi-constitutional status, had been considered beyond the reach of the Supreme Court.