"The only way to prevent constitutional crises is to initiate them"

Clash between the branches of government: At the beginning of the week, the Finance Committee convened specifically to allow several fund transfers. Immediately afterward, petitions were filed, and the Supreme Court, via an order nisi, blocked the committee's activity. In an interview on the afternoon news program with Ido Tauber, constitutional and criminal law expert Yoram Sheftel explained today (Thursday) why the most effective way to deal with the merger of powers promoted by the judicial system is to initiate a constitutional crisis instead of waiting for one.

Supreme Court merges powers

According to Sheftel, "The Supreme Court, in its ruling, does not point out where its authority comes from to cancel a decision by the Knesset Finance Committee to transfer such and such funds. You will not find that in the ruling for a very simple reason: there is no legal source that allows the Supreme Court to cancel a decision of the Knesset Finance Committee.

"I still remember, in the early 80s, when the court, with fear and trembling, dared to intervene in the issue of lifting immunity, without giving the Knesset member whose immunity they wanted to lift the opportunity to stand by his position and clarify why he opposes it — then they explicitly said that it would only be in critical matters of the rule of law and so on, because the work of the Knesset within the framework of the separation of powers is a matter for the Knesset and the Knesset alone. These are things that Shamgar wrote about 40 years ago," he said.

Instead of waiting — initiate

According to Sheftel, the solution that will restore the separation of powers is to initiate a constitutional crisis instead of waiting for one, and the recent intervention of the Supreme Court in the activity of the Finance Committee constitutes a classic opportunity to do so: "When they refuse the Supreme Court, it will not be able to do anything. That is, the Finance Committee will transfer the money, the Treasury will execute the decision and transfer it to all the institutions according to the decision.

And then they will inform the Supreme Court: Excuse me, you have no authority to order us not to carry this out, you have not a shred of authority.

"The Supreme Court will not be able to do anything against this. What, will it send court officials to the institutions to which the funds were transferred to confiscate them? That is a joke. The Supreme Court will not be able to do anything if the Knesset and the Treasury do not comply with the order, it will not be able to do anything. This is a constitutional crisis that will dismantle the Supreme Court, because it will show everyone that the king is naked. Because the strong branches of government in the country are ultimately the Knesset and the government."