Knesset Members Demand Emergency Session Following Supreme Court Ruling
Minister of Communications Dr. Shlomo Karey and 25 Knesset members have submitted an official request to Speaker Amir Ohana to convene the plenum during recess. The move follows an interim Supreme Court order freezing the recently passed Broadcasting Law.
First reported this evening (Tuesday) on News 14: following an interim order issued by the Supreme Court against the Broadcasting Law approved by the Knesset plenum in its second and third readings, the Minister of Communications, Dr. Shlomo Karey, along with 25 Knesset members, submitted an official request to the Knesset Speaker, Amir Ohana, to convene the plenum during the recess for an urgent discussion.
The request was submitted in accordance with Section 21(a) of the Knesset Rules of Procedure, which allows 25 members to demand a plenary session during the recess period. The members are seeking to hold the discussion as soon as possible and to approve a detailed Knesset resolution on the same day. According to the proposal, the Knesset will determine that the Supreme Court’s decision to freeze the Broadcasting Law constitutes a serious infringement of the Knesset’s sovereignty. It will further clarify that laws enacted by the Knesset remain in full force, that the source of sovereignty is the people, that judicial review does not grant the Supreme Court the authority to freeze legislation, and that the judiciary must respect the authority of the legislative branch.
Among the signatories are Minister of Justice Yariv Levin, Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir, and Minister of Communications Dr. Shlomo Karey, alongside other coalition members. In justifying the move, the initiators recall the ministerial oath of office, which requires members of the government to “remain faithful to the State of Israel and its laws, to fulfill in good faith their role as members of the Government, and to carry out the decisions of the Knesset.”
The initiative relies on a parliamentary precedent from over 25 years ago. On November 29, 1999, the Knesset adopted a declaratory resolution calling on the Supreme Court to practice judicial restraint and avoid intervention in legal, ideological, and political matters, as well as in laws enacted by the Knesset and status quo issues. That decision also called for expanding the panel of Supreme Court justices and opposed the doctrine that “everything is justiciable.”
According to the initiators, while the 1999 resolution was limited to a call for restraint, the current proposal is intended to establish, in a clear and unambiguous manner, that the Supreme Court has no authority to freeze the effect of laws duly approved by the Knesset.
