Cracks In Coalition Appear As Justice Minister Threatens To Disregard Potential Court Ruling

Israel's Economy Minister Nir Barkat said that he would respect the High Court's verdict if it overturns parts of the government's controversial judicial overhaul, even as Justice Minister Yariv Levin told Channel 14 last night that he would ignore it.

• Levin said that such a verdict would constitute "crossing a red line and we certainly will not accept it," adding that the government's "democratic resolution will be respected, and we will have a method for appointing judges that is fair, just and includes everyone."
• Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party followed up by noting in a statement today that "the High Court has no authority or reason to intervene in an amendment to a Basic Law that determines how judges are appointed, exactly like it did not intervene in the past when the law was amended over a decade ago."
• However, there are some dissenting voices within Likud, with Economy Minister Nir Barkat noting that he would recognise a High Court ruling to avoid a "constitutional crisis." This comes after Likud's David Bitan said that "at least five" ruling party lawmakers wanted to pause the overhauls to allow for negotiations.
• Criticism of the reforms continues to mount, with top Israeli business leaders and bank chiefs calling on Netanyahu to stop the reforms. Separately, Finance Ministry's Chief Economist said that the overhaul may negatively affect Israel's GDP growth, which was quickly dismissed by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.