High Court: Elections During COVID Too Dangerous – Court Will Govern Israel By Decree

The decision also removes the seven dissenting justices from the Court.

Jerusalem, November 19 – Israel’s supreme judicial body handed down a landmark decision today, ordaining that in light of the ongoing public health crisis resulting from the SARS-CoV-2 pathogen, the conduct of elections poses a hazard to the public that cannot justify holding those elections, and that the judiciary will therefore rule by fiat until further notice.

The High Court of Justice ruled Thursday on a petition by the Israel Democracy Institute to suspend elections until the public health crisis passes, agreeing to issue such an injunction. The suspension will persist indefinitely, the ruling determined, or until such time as the Court sees fit to reestablish the democratic norms that currently threaten democratic norms as the Court defines them.

“Given the risks inherent in the conduct of election polling, the Court rules it must assume the role of the legislature under current circumstances,” the 8-7 decision read. “Endangering the lives of millions just to hold elections would undermine the very function of the State, which is to promote the welfare and safety of its citizens. Numerous reviews and the aggregate of news reports demonstrate that the current government does not possess the capacity to handle this crisis, as demonstrated by its inability to keep infection numbers low even while shutting down schools and much of the economy.”

“Asserting its own control,” the decision continued, “the Court will put a stop to that type of disastrous incompetence. At the same time, the move will also protect the Court from various machinations from certain quarters to threaten the Court’s independence, by which we mean a specific left-wing worldview that cannot be challenged by mere notions of representative democracy and so-called ‘tolerance of dissent.’ The Court will brook no dissent in this or other matters.”

In keeping with the last sentence, the decision also removes the seven dissenting justices from the Court.

Observers remain unsure what impact the decision will have on Israeli democracy. “There hasn’t been much happening in the Knesset in recent years anyway,” noted journalist Barak Ravid. “But it’s not really about the Knesset; it’s about Netanyahu. The Israeli Left has finally found a way to depose him without having to produce a worthy leader of its own as an alternative, an inability that until now has stymied their efforts to score a real electoral victory. Thanks to Netanyahu’s own reluctance to curb the power-grabs of High Court and State Prosecutor’s Office over the last two decades, the way is clear for the Court itself to replace him.”

Please support our work through Patreon.