In her first public comments since retiring from the Supreme Court last year, former court president Esther Hayut warned on Monday that renewed efforts by the government to subvert the judiciary and media were again threatening democracy
Hayut said that she is “observing with great concern the disastrous initiatives and actions that pose a real threat to the independence and autonomy of essential democratic pillars.”
Speaking at a ceremony at Haifa University where she was awarded an honorary doctorate, Hayut attacked those who “misuse democracy while cynically exploiting democratic tools,” and take actions that “erode the anchors of democracy and the democratic regime as a whole.”
“More than 76 years ago, Israel inscribed on its banner a commitment to the principles of liberty, freedom of religion, conscience, justice, and social and political equality for all its citizens. To uphold such a regime in practice — not merely as empty words on the Declaration of Independence — the state required a comprehensive system of checks and balances to ensure that the majority elected to govern would not concentrate unlimited power in its hands,” she said.
She added that “such a system of checks and balances was established and includes institutions such as the state comptroller, the attorney general, the judiciary, academia, and the media. Those who, ostensibly in the name of democracy, undermine the institutional and professional independence of these bodies misuse democracy, while cynically exploiting democratic tools. Such actions erode the anchors of democracy and the democratic regime as a whole.”
During the ceremony, university president Prof. Gur Alroey also criticized the government over its judicial overhaul efforts, saying the judiciary “is under an attack unprecedented since the state’s founding.”
The government has come under fire in recent weeks as ministers have talked about privatizing the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (Kan) and reviving the controversial judicial overhaul introduced nearly two years ago that sought to transfer power from the judiciary to the government.
The judicial overhaul led to many massive protests throughout 2023 from people across Israel’s industries who decried it as a threat to democracy. Legislation of the overhaul was frozen in October last year when Hamas launched its October 7 attack on Israel, sparking the war in Gaza, but as the Supreme Court recently pressured Justice Minister Yariv Levin to appoint a new president, he and other ministers have said it is time to restart legislation of his proposed reforms.
Critics have pointed to a number of controversial initiatives by the coalition — including moves to allow the Knesset to appoint the state ombudsman for judges, fire ministerial legal advisers, and allow the justice minister to determine the rate of bar association membership dues — as evidence that it seeks to revive the judicial overhaul agenda.
Additional recent legislative initiatives from the coalition include bills to grant the government oversight of television ratings data and to privatize Kan and Army Radio — moves that are seen as targeting outlets critical of the government and benefitting a channel that staunchly supports it.
A poll released by the Israel Democracy Institute last week found that more than half of Israelis (58%) are concerned about the state of democracy in the country, in light of the government’s initiatives.
Sam Sokol contributed to this report.