The Jurists' Rebellion, Part 1: Aharon Barak's Revolution to Change Democracy

In a proper democratic state, the order is clear: the public elects the legislator, the legislator sets the law, and the judge interprets it. However, the premiere episode of the series "The Jurists' Rebellion" argues that in Israel, over decades, this order has been reversed — quietly, without official announcements, and without the public being invited to participate in the process.

The episode focuses on the figure of Aharon Barak, who for years was perceived as a symbol of state law, but behind his quiet facade led one of the greatest governmental revolutions in the country's history. The revolution did not pass through a referendum or an orderly constitutional debate, but was built layer by layer through rulings, doctrines, and the expansion of the Supreme Court's power.

From the "Dollar Account" affair to "Everything is Justiciable"

The process began during Barak's tenure as Attorney General in the Rabin dollar account affair. There, Barak identified the power inherent in the right of standing. Step by step, he built the concept that "everything is justiciable." The meaning, as described by attorney Yoram Sheftel in the series, is the concentration of absolute power:

"Whoever decides on the scope becomes the supreme ruler... 'The whole earth is full of law' means — I will manage the politics."

The series shows how the legal tools built — the Deri-Pinhasi precedent and the reasonableness standard — changed the balance of power. Dr. David Peter explains in the series the practical consequences of the reasonableness standard on the government's functioning:

"The court reaches its hand into the minister's head and speaks from his throat like a sock puppet. They turn the ministers into an empty shell that is under their control."

1995: The moment everything changed

The climax of the episode is the constitutional revolution of 1992, which was officially declared in 1995 in the "Bank Mizrahi" ruling. The laws, which passed by a narrow margin and without deep public debate, became in Barak's hands a tool allowing the Supreme Court to strike down Knesset legislation.

"We go to vote at the ballot box, the legislator passes the laws we request... but the one who has the final word, who decides the life or death of this law, is the Supreme Court," explains Dr. Shaul Sharf.

Minister of Justice Yariv Levin also questions in the episode the unique expertise that the judges have claimed for themselves: "Where do you learn, where is this school for balancing between one thing and another? I thought that balance is about priorities, and in the end, these things are done by each of us when we cast our ballot."

The democratic question

"The Jurists' Rebellion" does not seek to deal only with dry legal issues, but to raise a fundamental democratic question: when power passes to a small group of people whom no one elected and who cannot be criticized — what remains of the public's right to determine its own destiny?

Aharon Barak does not apologize for the system he built, but the series reveals how this system began to operate systematically not only to interpret the law, but to protect itself from any external criticism, while using its immense power against the elected representatives of the public.

No response was received from Aharon Barak.