Knesset passes new judicial reform law, opposition appeals to Supreme Court
Israel’s Knesset has voted through a new law that bolsters elected officials’ control over deciding judges, according to media reports.
The new law, which will take effect in the next parliament, alters the makeup of the judicial selection committee to give elected officials more influence and decrease that of current judges, The Times of Israel reported.
Opposition lawmakers, many of whom boycotted the final vote, say the law politicises the judiciary and gives Israel’s governing coalition too much power.
“The Israeli government has just approved a law with one clear purpose – to ensure that judges become subject to the will of politicians,” opposition party heads said in a joint statement, shared by opposition leader Yair Lapid.
Lapid’s Yesh Atid party said it had appealed against the new law, which it warned could “lead to the collapse of one of the last checks on democracy in Israel”.
The dispute comes just a year after the Supreme Court struck down a broader judicial reform effort, which included a measure that would have allowed the governing coalition to override High Court rulings, sparking mass street protests.
Israeli rights group denounces torture of Gaza medical workers in Israeli jails
Three doctors and one paramedic have died while in Israeli detention, Physicians for Human Rights says in a new report, adding that nearly 150 medical workers from Gaza remain behind bars while subjected to torture and other degrading treatments.
“They are detained because they are Palestinians, because they are from Gaza, but also and importantly because they are healthcare workers,” the Israel-based group said. “Detainees endure physical, psychological, and sexual abuse, as well as starvation and medical neglect amounting to torture.”
Medical workers “were plainly informed that they were held simply for the purpose of gathering information without being charged with any offence”, it added.
The organisation interviewed 24 medical workers arrested by Israel who all reported “experiencing extreme violence, humiliation, and being stripped of their clothing, including on hospital grounds”. Twenty of them were arrested while on duty.
The group said medical personnel are protected under international humanitarian law and their arrests constitute violations of its provisions.
Since October 2023, there have been hundreds of documented attacks on Palestinian medical personnel: at least 500 were killed and over 200 arrested. These attacks reflect a systematic Israeli policy targeting healthcare workers, with more than 200 still in Israeli detention.
— Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) (@PHRIsrael) March 27, 2025
