A bombshell leak was revealed on Wednesday evening when Channel 12 journalist Amit Segal announced that the Supreme Court intends to invalidate the reasonableness law passed by the Knesset in July by a one-vote majority, the first time in the history of the State of Israel that a Basic Law would be invalidated. According to the report, Supreme Court judges voiced sharp criticism against Supreme Court President Esther Hayut for pushing them to reach a verdict without allowing them adequate time to deliberate the issue in order to reach a decision before her retirement on January 12. Eight judges, including Hayut, wrote a decision in favor of disqualifying the law versus seven judges who opposed it. The report about the decision, which would roil the country amid a major war in Gaza, has sparked outrage among the right, especially since without the opinions of Hayut and Judge Anat Baron, who are both retiring, the result would have been 7-6 against the law’s invalidation. The vast majority of legal scholars believe that the Supreme Court does not have the authority to invalidate a Basic Law and doing so risks sending Israel into a constitutional crisis. Even deliberating the invalidation of a Basic Law is unprecedented in Israeli history. Hayut wrote: “The Basic Law constitutes a significant deviation from the ‘constitution in the making’ and therefore it must be accepted by broad consensus and not by a narrow coalitional majority.” Judge Yechiel Kasher criticized the wording of the reasonableness law, but said that the court does not have the authority to invalidate it. “The work of legislating Basic Laws is under the authority of the Knesset and not of this court,” he wrote. Justice Minister Yariv Levin responded to the report by stating: “While our soldiers are fighting side by side on the various fronts and the entire nation is grieving the loss of many lives, Am Yisrael must not be torn apart by disputes. The citizens of Israel expect the Supreme Court to refrain from publishing a ruling that is controversial even among its judges during a war.” Honenu attorney Nati Rom slammed Hayut’s intention to issue the verdict during the war: “The ‘gift’ left by President Esther Hayut in the form of disqualifying a Basic Law… undermines the democratic foundations of the State of Israel. To plan this coup with a majority of one judge in a time of war when soldiers are fighting and families are burying their dead shows why the judicial reform is so necessary.” “I don’t understand what went through Hayut’s mind when she saw that everyone was restraining themselves and decided that it was time to light this match again and tear apart our battered and bruised nation.” Berale Crombie, the chairman of the pro-reform Tekumah organization, wrote: “Good morning to the Supreme Court judges. How did you sleep last night after announcing that you are paving a path to civil war while our soldiers fight and fall together in battle?! Responsible adult anyone?!” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich responded: “Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and commanders are giving their lives for the common good now on all fronts, two million people are afraid of the knock on the door but there are those who insist on bringing us back to to October 6th.” “Repealing a Basic Law for […]