Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin responded angrily on Sunday to a Supreme Court demand that Israel’s government provide justification by Aug. 24 for its policy on the war and the return of the hostages.
The court, sitting as the High Court of Justice, made the demand earlier on Sunday in response to a petition submitted by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group focused on returning the hostages being held by terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip.
“The main essence of this petition is not a request to the court to instruct the government to agree to a deal to end the war under one condition or another,” wrote Supreme Court Justice Khaled Kabub in his decision, according to the court’s website.
“The main essence of this petition [...] is the demand that the government provide a detailed justification for its policy,” he continued.
Justice Minister Levin blasted the ruling, saying the court doesn’t have the authority or the right to interfere in the government’s conduct of the war.
“Anyone who does not respect the law and the government’s powers should not expect that it or its decisions will be respected,” he said, according to Hebrew media.
Haim Ramon, a former Labor Party minister, also weighed in, posting to X on Monday that the court had no right to make such a demand. “The government must answer with only three words: ‘It’s not justiciable.’”
Levin, the No. 2 man in the Likud Party, spearheaded the aborted 2023 judicial reform effort to rein in the Supreme Court. Opponents of the court have argued that it has expanded its powers to include legislative functions, and interfered in all manner of topics that are outside its purview.
Supporters of the court argue that it’s a check on the government and protects democracy and individual rights. They accuse the reformers of trying to politicize the court.
