Only a Minority of Israelis Support the Proposed Judicial Overhaul

66% of Israelis: Supreme Court should have power to strike down laws that are incompatible with Israel’s Basic Laws | On Judicial Selection Committee: 63% Support Current Principle Requiring Agreement between Politicians and Justices.

Photo by Shir Torem/Flash90

A special survey on the judicial plan proposed by Justice Minister Yariv Levin, found that 66% of Israelis think the Supreme Court should have the power to strike down a law if it is incompatible with the Basic Laws. 63% of Israelis think that the current balance in the makeup of the Judicial Selection Committee – where agreement is required between politicians and justices on judicial appointments – should be maintained. The survey was conducted by conducted IDI’s Viterbi Family Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research.

Main Findings

Supreme Court - 66% of Israelis think the Supreme Court should have the power to strike down a law if it is incompatible with the Basic Laws. – Among those who voted for opposition parties, 87% think this should be the case and 44% of those who voted for parties that makeup the coalition agree with this idea.

Breakdown among the voters for the four coalition parties shows that there is a substantial minority that is not supportive of this proposal – 47% among Likud voters, 38% of Religious Zionism voters, 42% of Shas voters and 38% of United Torah Judaism voters.

Judicial Appointments Committee – 63% of Israelis think that the Judicial Selection Committee, which currently must reach agreement between politicians and justices on judicial appointments – should maintain this practice. Among voters for the Likud party, only a minority (39%) think that the coalition should always hold a majority in the committee that selects Israel’s judges as is proposed in Minister Levin’s plan currently under debate in the Knesset.

Only 23% of Israelis think that more politicians should be added to the committee so that the coalition will have a permanent majority in the selection of judges. 43% of coalition voters and 7% of opposition voters agree.

Breakdown among the voters for the four coalition parties shows that there is a substantial minority that is not supportive of this proposal – 40% among Likud voters, 37% of Religious Zionism voters, 57% of Shas voters and 23% of United Torah Judaism voters.

Appointing Ministry Legal Advisors – 58% of Israelis oppose modifying the current method by which Ministry Legal Advisors are appointed in which they are civil servants. 31% would support Justice Minister Levin’s plan to turn these positions into political appointees. Breakdown by political segmentation finds that 85% (opposition voters) and 27% (coalition voters) oppose the change.

Economic Repercussions – 53% of Israelis agree with the warnings put forth by senior economist, that a politically-dependent judicial system would harm Israel’s economy.

35% agree with Prime Minister Netanyahu, who said that the changes to the judicial system would not have a negative effect on Israel’s economy.

Compromise – 72% of Israelis agree that in order to bridge the gulf between the two political camps, there should be dialogue about the legislative proposals and an attempt to reach a compromise. 60% of those who voted for the coalition parties support such dialogue, as do 84% of opposition party voters.

If changes to the Judicial System are approved – how many Israelis are worried or extremely worried about the possibility of change for the worse in each of these areas:

 

Topic	Total Sample	Jews	Arabs
Damage to my personal savings	61%	57%	80%
Restrictions on freedom of expression	60%	57%	71%
Weakening of possibility of protecting IDF soldiers accused of war crimes by foreign tribunals	56%	61%	27%
Politicization of the civil service	56%	53%	71%
Restrictions on public transportation on Shabbat	54%	51%	67.5%
Gender Equality	53%	52%	59%
Extra rights for young Haredi men who did not serve in the IDF	51%	52%	44%
Reduction in foreign investments	49%	49%	48%
Rights of Israeli Arabs	45%	36%	87%
LGBTQ Rights	43%	46%	30%

 

The quick survey about the legal reforms, second week of February 2023, was carried out by the Viterbi Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research at the Israel Democracy Institute. The survey was conducted online and by telephone (to fill in sectors that are not appropriately represented on the internet) on February 9–13, 2023. A total of 606 men and women were interviewed in Hebrew and 150 in Arabic—constituting a representative sample of the adult population of Israel aged 18 and over. The maximum sampling error for all respondents is ±3.56%, at a confidence level of 95%. The field work was conducted by the Smith Institute, For the full data file, go to https://dataisrael.idi.org.il.