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December 2, 2022 9:33 am
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Don’t Touch Israel’s ‘Gem’ of Supreme Court, Dershowitz Warns

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avatar by i24 News

Israel’s Supreme Court. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

i24 NewsIsrael’s Supreme Court is key to the Jewish state’s battle against propagandists claiming it is not a democracy, renowned US jurist Alan Dershowitz said on Thursday, warning that the august institution should be kept out of the realm of partisan politics.

The statement comes in response to a debate in Israel regarding the principle of judicial overview, on the heels of prime minister-elect Benjamin Netanyahu’s agreeing to form a government coalition with hardline right-wingers who pledged to overhaul the court.

At stake is the ability of the court to strike down legislations it deems is in violation of the human and civil rights stipulated in Israel’s Basic Laws; the court’s the ability to reverse government and administrative decisions could also be severely undermined in the event that the mooted override clause should be ratified into law.

“I’ve been a student of the Israeli Supreme Court for more than half a century,” Dershowitz, who is Jewish and a prominent defender of Israel, said in a recorded message posted on the Hebrew-language Ynet site. “The Israeli Supreme Court has been the gem, the jewel of judiciaries around the world.”

“The Israeli Supreme Court has been the main argument Israel’s been able to make to keep issues away from the International Criminal Court (ICC) and other international courts.”

The court is essential “not only to Israeli democracy but to Israel’s attempts to present itself to the world in a truthful, positive and fair way,” he added. “It would be a terrible, terrible mistake for an override to be permitted by the Knesset, it would be a terrible mistake to weaken the independence of the Supreme Court.”

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