16 April 2025
Governing in the Shadow of Indictments
Israel has been experiencing fierce conflicts between the Prime Minister and the government on the one hand and prominent public officials on the other. Two such conflicts have occupied the public discourse in recent weeks: the conflict between the government and both the Attorney General (Gali Barahav-Miara) and the head of the internal security service (Ronen Bar). In both cases, the government's attempt to remove these officials from office has run into legal difficulties, grounded in accusations concerning conflict of interest, which stem from two opposing principles within administrative law. Continue reading >>
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17 March 2023
Separating Substance from Procedure: How to Address the Israeli Constitutional Crisis
Many proposals to resolve the current Israeli constitutional crisis have been recently advanced. Yet, most of them are arguably unlikely to bring about a compromise. This is so not because their content cannot be accepted by the parties involved, but because they do not address the substantive concerns of the parties. Israel's constitutional crisis results from the fact that the parties to the conflict shape their proposals concerning the decision-making process in a way that is conducive to their short-term substantive interests. Any proposed solution must therefore separate substantive questions from procedural and institutional ones. Continue reading >>
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14 March 2023
The Proposed Constitutional Putsch in Israel
February and March 2023 have seen hundreds of thousands of demonstrators protesting against new proposed constitutional amendments designed to transform the constitutional foundations of the State of Israel. This is an exceptional phenomenon. Israel has seen mass demonstrations in the past, but it has never seen mass demonstrations on what may seem like issues which should concern, at best, lawyers or law professors. But looked at more attentively, this reaction is not surprising: beneath the legalistic debate on the constitutional amendments lurk deeper issues: should Israel be more western or more Jewish? What is the status of Jewishness in the Jewish State? What should the status of Palestinians in a Jewish State be? Is Israel primarily a western state, or is it a nationalist theocracy? A lot is, therefore, at stake for every Israeli citizen! Continue reading >>
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09 October 2019
Slowing or Stopping the Turn to Authoritarianism in Israel
The elections will not bring any change with respect to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the religious conflict or the growing inequality. But they are important and even crucial for the future of Israel as they are most likely to slow and perhaps block the erosion of the protection of civil rights in Israel and the slow but continuous transition of Israel from a liberal democracy to an authoritarian one. Continue reading >>
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31 July 2018
Shifting towards a democratic-authoritarian state: Israel’s new Nation-State Law
The 'Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People' was passed by the Knesset on July 19, 2018. The Basic Law purports to entrench the identity of the state as a Jewish state. As this Article is being written several petitions against the Basic Law are being prepared and will be submitted to the Supreme Court. The Court however may find it very difficult to declare the Basic Law void. Continue reading >>
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14 June 2018
Robuster Konstitutionalismus, Bindung des Gesetzgebers, richterliche Normenkontrolle
Der Konstitutionalismus befindet sich in einer Krise. Er ist harscher Kritik bekannter liberaler Theoretiker ausgesetzt (just jenen, die stets seine größten Verteidiger waren) und, wichtiger noch: Er wird in Frage gestellt durch Parlamente, Politiker, Aktivisten und manchmal gar durch Richter. Die wesentlichen Zielscheiben des gegenwärtigen Populismus sind die Verfassung und die Richter, die sie zu interpretieren haben. Dennoch gehen Angriffe auf den Konstitutionalismus nicht nur von Populisten aus. Dieser Beitrag verfolgt daher die Absicht, den Konstitutionalismus zu verteidigen und ihn auf ein neues theoretisches Fundament zu stellen. Continue reading >>15 May 2018
The Israeli Override Clause and the Future of Israeli Democracy
The recent proposals to enact an override clause to the Israeli Basic Law; Human Dignity and Liberty has triggered a fierce public debate in Israeli legal and political circles. Under this proposal, the Knesset could reenact a statute that was declared void by the courts. As is characteristic of such debates, the proponents and opponents of the override clause claim to defend democracy, strengthen the protection of rights and defend restore the proper balance between different branches of government. The purpose of this post is to explain the background of this debate and evaluate the pros and cons of the override clause in the Israeli context. Continue reading >>
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27 April 2017
Courts in a Populist World
“I did not come to in order to be loved [...] Continue reading >>
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