Israel in turmoil as court considers curbs on judiciary

Israel's supreme court justices began hearing petitions yesterday against a significant part of the rightwing government's judicial changes limiting the court's powers, a development that could trigger an unprecedented constitutional crisis.

- Bethan McKernan

For the first time, a panel of all 15 judges convened to discuss eight filings aimed at striking down the clause, passed by the Knesset in July, that abolished the supreme court's ability to overrule government decisions on grounds of "unreasonableness".

The hearings put the country's top judges in the position of deciding on their own roles. The government has indicated it will not comply if the court strikes down the law, which would mark the first time it had overturned a semi-constitutional "basic law". Such a move would plunge Israel into uncharted political and legal waters; the figurehead president, Isaac Herzog, has repeatedly warned of civil war.

Protesters in their hundreds gathered outside the court building in Jerusalem as the hearing began, banging drums, blowing whistles, chanting and waving Israeli flags.

Several dozen rightwing activists arrived later, shouting "the people are the sovereign" and held signs declaring they had voted for the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and not the supreme court's chief justice, Esther Hayut.