With the formation of a new right-wing government, the possibility of limiting the Israeli Supreme Court’s powers to overrule unconstitutional Knesset laws is again on the agenda. At present, Israel’s Supreme Court is empowered to disqualify laws that contradict the Knesset’s Basic Laws on human rights and dignity (the closest Israel has to a constitution).

Israel’s social change organizations are now on full alert to prevent the new government from changing the status-quo in this matter and have launched a campaign to raise awareness on the matter and the dangers to democracy that it entails.

Examples of such laws that the Supreme Court has struck down include attempts to privatize Israel’s prisons system, imprisonment of asylum seeks for up to three years, and the expropriation of Palestinian land so that homes can be built for Jewish settlers.