Aharon Barak

If there is a formal written constitution, the Supreme Court's role is clarified as the guardians of the Constitution.

Now, the Supreme Court under Aharon Barak, who was a longtime serving head justice, basically interpreted the basic laws as a constitution.

His guidance was, we just treat these laws as a constitution, and therefore, our job is to interpret and enforce these basic laws.

But as we saw with the judicial review and judicial overhaul process in 2023 before October 7, it's actually a really contentious issue.

So first, we've seen allegations that the judiciary and the government lawyers are responsible for October 7th.

So the government, instead of saying we're to blame, they say, aha, it's just because of this activism of the court and because of Aaron Barak and because of the legal advisors that tied the hands of the IDF.

This is why October 7th happened.

We've also seen allegations that the judiciary and the government lawyers are assisting Hamas.

It can strike down legislation, and it has claimed the power to strike down even an amendment to a basic law.

And if that sounds like the classic Superman tagline, more powerful than a locomotive, faster than a speeding bullet, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, you're not far off, because we're talking about the Supreme Court.

Specifically, the fact that the next Knesset may replace two-thirds of the bench, changing its face and that of Israel for years to come.

I mean, we're going into the next term with four of the 15 seats already empty after Justice Minister Yariv Levine's long standoff with the court over judicial selection.

Give me the case that set the tone.

The foundational one is from two thousand six, Council for Higher Education versus Haaretz, written by Aharon Barak.

Haaretz wanted the minutes of the council's committees.

The council said internal deliberations exempt.

Barak said the exemption lets you withhold.

It doesn't oblige you to.

You have to actually weigh the public interest case by case.

The exemption is a permission, not a wall.

But here at home, we have our own work to do with ourselves, too.

Former Supreme Court President Aharon Barak famously observed that a democracy must sometimes fight with one hand tied behind its back.

He wrote, although a democracy must often fight with one hand tied behind its back, it nonetheless has the upper hand.

Preserving the rule of law and recognition of an individual's liberty constitutes an important component in its understanding of security.

But the deep state, the, and the, the government apparatus, the Jews that had been, um, adopted by the Greco-Syrians and had been nominated as governors and tax collectors and what have you, they were all hardcore Hellenists.

In other words, they, they were the kind of Jew like Aharon Barak, the former head Supreme Court president or, or the current one, uh, and, and others of that ilk.

They, they had nothing to do with Judaism, and in fact, they reviled Judaism.

A majority of the people who were the simple people, the farmers, the peasants, not people in power, they, uh, and they, they hated them back.