Basic Law

Shas spiritual leader orders support for coalition legislation in exchange for haredi-backed bills

Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef warned there was “no room for delay” on the Torah Study Law amid coalition efforts to advance contentious legislation.

|ByKESHET NEEV
ARYE DERI sits in the Knesset plenum.
Ultra orthodox Jewish reserve soldiers of the IDF's Hasmonean Brigade operate in the Gaza Strip on June 26, 2025.

It’s about time that Torah study counted for something - opinion

That same Torah which gives us our claim to the land also commands us to study it day and night – and our tradition holds that this study is itself a form of national defense.

|ByELIYAHU HADDAD
MKS ATTEND a House committee meeting at the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament in Jerusalem, on June 16, 2026.

The hidden economic danger in the Basic Law on Torah Study

Another significant dimension has received almost no attention: the possibility that the law will alter Israel’s national priorities and damage the growth engines on which the Israeli economy depends

|ByDAPHNA AVIRAM-NITZAN
Combat veterans suffering from PTSD attends a House committee meeting at the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament in Jerusalem on, July 7, 2026.

'Little girls with microphones': IDF veteran slams MKs during Basic Law: Torah Study cm'tee meeting

“It's a crime what you're doing to them - all of you here. If I gave each and every one of you the footage from my GoPro of the bodies, you wouldn't sleep at night," the veteran told the committee.

|ByKESHET NEEV, SHIR PERETS

High Court hearing on new law set for after summer recess

A barrage of petitions was filed against the reasonableness bill on Monday and Tuesday, after it had passed in a dramatic Knesset voting session on Monday.

JULY 26, 2023ByMICHAEL STARR
OPPOSITION MKS wrap themselves in Israeli flags during the Knesset vote on judicial reform on Monday night.

Can Israel's High Court cancel the newly-passed judicial reform law?

The basic laws are the fundamental legal framework under which the power of judicial review exists.

JULY 25, 2023ByMICHAEL STARR
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Unity leader MK Benny Gantz are seen moving to shake hands in the Knesset amid the vote on the controversial reasonableness standard bill, in Jerusalem, on Monday, July 24, 2023.

Israel needs a constitution to avoid crisis - analysis

Opposition and protest leaders said immediately after the Knesset vote that the real struggle begins now. 

JULY 25, 2023ByHERB KEINON
Protest against the government's judicial reform, July 24, 2023.

Israel's Bar joins barrage of High Court petitions against new law

The purpose of the law, the Israeli Bar contended, was to "immunize" the heads of the executive authority from acting within the bounds of reason.

JULY 25, 2023ByMICHAEL STARR
Judicial reform opponent Amit Becher casts his ballot for the head of the Israeli Bar Association, at a voting station in Tel Aviv on June 20, 2023.

NGOs prepare High Court petitions against reasonableness

If the petition is accepted, it would be the first time the court heard arguments to abolish a matter of a Basic Law.

JULY 24, 2023ByMICHAEL STARR
THE HIGH Court of Justice has been a paper tiger in everything concerning the Netanyahu bloc’s interests, says the writer

Reasonableness issue requires serious and consensual discussion - opinion

A government that wants to act in its citizens’ interests, in a professional manner and on the basis of appropriate considerations, has nothing to fear from the test of reasonableness.

JULY 14, 2023BySUZIE NAVOT
PRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu congratulates Justice Minister Yariv Levin and other coalition members on Monday night, after the passage in first reading of the reasonableness bill.

The major legal issues of the last 75 years that altered Israeli society

LEGAL AFFAIRS: Consulting with Israel's legal professionals has exposed major issues that have plagued the Israeli public since the state was founded.

APRIL 29, 2023ByMICHAEL STARR
THE SUPREME COURT in Jerusalem – a focus of change in Israeli society over the last 75 years.

Will the Knesset be back to judicial reform mayhem post-recess?

Political affairs: The new Knesset’s first session was dominated by the judicial overhaul controversy. What should we expect when it resumes its activity on April 30?

APRIL 8, 2023ByELIAV BREUER
MEMBERS OF THE opposition react during a past speech by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir in the Knesset.

What is in Herzog’s judicial reform ‘People’s Outline?’ - explainer

President Isaac Herzog presented his judicial reform outline on Wednesday night

MARCH 15, 2023ByMICHAEL STARR
The High Court of Justice during a hearing

'Deri Law 2.0' passes committee vote, heads to plenum for first reading

The law proposal's purpose is to enable Netanyahu to reinstate Deri after the High Court struck down his appointment last month.

MARCH 15, 2023ByELIAV BREUER
Head of the Shas party Aryeh Deri, leads a faction meeting, at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, on February 6, 2023.