Israel’s government is again trying to hobble its Supreme Court
While at war, Israel is facing a constitutional crisis
在战争期间，以色列面临宪法危机。
2024年9月19日 07:53 上午 |耶路撒冷
FOR NEARLY a year Israel’s Supreme Court has been without a president, as the country’s right-wing government has tussled with the judiciary over the court’s powers. As soon as it was elected at the end of 2022, the government of Binyamin Netanyahu presented plans for “judicial reforms” which would limit the powers of the Supreme Court and give politicians control of the appointment of judges. The proposals prompted huge protests and were abandoned when the war in Gaza began. But they are back on the agenda.
快一年了，以色列最高法院一直没有主席，因为右翼政府和司法部门在权力问题上争得不可开交。2022年底，新政府一上任，本雅明·内塔尼亚胡就提出了“司法改革”计划，想限制最高法院的权力，还要让政客来决定法官的任命。这些提议引发了大规模抗议，后来在加沙战争爆发后被搁置。不过，现在这些计划又重新回到了讨论中。
The justice minister, Yariv Levin, has provoked the new crisis. Mr Levin wants the judicial-appointments committee, which he co-chairs, to abandon the tradition whereby the senior serving judge on the Supreme Court is appointed president. His reason? He is determined to keep the current top judge, Yitzhak Amit, a vocal opponent of his reforms, from the job.
司法部长雅利夫·莱文引发了新的危机。他想让他共同主持的司法任命委员会放弃一个传统，就是由最高法院资深法官担任院长。为什么呢？因为他不想让现在的最高法官伊扎克·阿米特（Yitzhak Amit）当这个职位，阿米特可是他改革措施的坚定反对者。
Having tried—and failed—to change the make-up of the committee, Mr Levin has refused to convene it since the previous president retired. The Supreme Court has now ordered him to present his candidate by September 22nd and then convene the committee. So far, he has refused to do so, accusing the judges of “an unlawful usurpation of the minister’s powers”.
莱文试图改变委员会的组成，但没成功，所以在上一任主席退休后，他就一直不召集这个委员会。最高法院现在已经命令他在9月22日前提交候选人，然后召开会议。不过到目前为止，他还是拒绝这么做，指责法官“非法篡夺部长的权力”。
Mr Levin and other members of Mr Netanyahu’s government have long sought to rein in what they regard as an activist court. In the past it has overridden government decisions and laws on grounds of constitutionality. With Israel now at war, the role of the Supreme Court has become even more contentious. It is the only forum where questions about how Israel is conducting the war, such as its obligations to supply humanitarian aid to the civilian population in Gaza and the treatment of prisoners, are being investigated, a fact that has not endeared it to hardliners in the governing coalition.
莱文和内塔尼亚胡的其他政府成员一直想限制他们认为是“积极主义法院”的最高法院。过去，法院曾以合宪性为理由推翻过政府的决定和法律。现在，以色列正处于战争中，最高法院的角色变得更加争议不断。它是唯一一个调查以色列如何进行战争的问题的平台，比如对加沙平民的人道主义援助义务以及对待战俘的方法，这让执政联盟中的强硬派并不喜欢它。
The court’s president has a crucial role in scheduling such hearings, and in appointing any national commissions of inquiry. So far Mr Netanyahu has withstood public pressure to create such a body. If the prime minister were to relent, perhaps to fend off his possible prosecution in the International Criminal Court, the president would decide who is on the commission.
法院院长在安排听证会和任命调查委员会方面非常重要。到现在为止，内塔尼亚胡一直抵挡住公众的压力，没有成立这样的机构。如果总理妥协了，可能是为了应对他在国际刑事法院可能面临的起诉，那么院长就会决定谁能进这个委员会。
If Mr Levin persists in his obstructionism, the court could order the other committee members to convene without him. But that would be an unprecedented clash between the branches of government and could in turn provoke other ministers to defy legal rulings. That is already happening. Itamar Ben-Gvir, the hard-right politician in charge of the police, has proceeded with the promotion of a police officer accused of throwing a stun-grenade at protesters, despite instructions from the attorney-general and a court order to wait until an investigation is concluded.
如果莱文继续阻挠，法院可能会要求其他委员会成员在没有他的情况下召开会议。不过，这样一来就会造成政府各部门之间前所未有的冲突，可能还会导致其他部长无视法律裁决。其实这种情况已经开始发生了。负责警察事务的极右翼政治家伊塔马尔·本-吉维尔不顾总检察长和法院的指示，还是推进了一名被指控向抗议者投掷催泪弹的警察晋升事宜。
The government and court are also at odds over a ruling to draft rabbinical students into the army and end funding for their seminaries. This is a red line for the ultra-Orthodox parties in Mr Netanyahu’s coalition and his ministers are in no rush to carry out the court’s orders.
政府和法院在一项裁决上意见不合，裁决内容是要征召拉比学生入伍，并停止对他们的学院提供资金。这对内塔尼亚胡联合政府中的极端正统派政党来说是个红线，他的部长们也没急着去执行法院的命令。
“The Supreme Court judges created this confrontation at a time of war,” insists Simcha Rothman, chair of the law committee in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament and one of the architects of the coalition’s judicial reforms. “Instead of trying to reach a compromise with the justice minister, they are forcing a vote. This constitutional crisis is on their heads.”
以色列议会法律委员会主席西姆查·罗特曼说：“最高法院的法官在战时制造了这场冲突。他们本可以和司法部长达成妥协，却偏要强迫投票。这场宪法危机是他们造成的。”
Others disagree. Yaniv Roznai, an expert in constitutional law at Reichman University in Tel Aviv, says: “Beneath the radar, while the guns are firing, the government is taking advantage of the lack of attention to legal issues to try once again to achieve the objective of the legal reform—power without limits.”
其他人则有不同看法。特拉维夫雷切曼大学的宪法法专家雅尼夫·罗兹纳伊说：“在枪声响起的时候，政府正趁着大家对法律问题不太关注，试图再次实现法律改革的目标——就是想要无限制的权力。”
