Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said Sunday that the High Court's interim order freezing parts of his communications law has no legal force, and called on Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana to clarify the court's authority through a special Knesset decision. The court has no power to suspend or annul laws, Karhi argued, according to N12's Dafna Liel.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi escalated the judicial-executive confrontation Sunday morning, calling for defiance of the High Court's interim order blocking his broadcast law. The minister said the court exceeded its authority and that the order is legally void, urging Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana to secure a special Knesset decision clarifying the court's lack of jurisdiction over legislation. Karhi's remarks, reported by N12's Dafna Liel, came minutes after the court issued the order at 07:46 Jerusalem.
At 07:46 Jerusalem, The Zioneer and multiple Israeli outlets reported that the High Court had issued an interim order freezing the law's implementation. The reports, consolidated across versions 4 through 13 of the thread, detailed the court's reasoning: concerns about irreversibility (version 5, ynet), Justice Yosef Grosskopf's issuance of the order (version 6), the freezing of broadcast provisions (version 7), and 'heavy allegations' cited by the court (version 8, Amit Segal). The court also issued a conditional order in consolidated petitions filed by MKs Efrat Rayten, Eitan Ginzburg, the Zulat Institute, and the Movement for Quality Government (versions 9 and 11). The law was passed by a 53-48 vote with United Torah Judaism absent, as i24 NEWS reported (version 10).
This is not the first time Karhi has challenged the High Court's authority. As The Zioneer reported on July 5, Karhi described the government's defiance of a court ruling on the Second Authority as 'historic and unprecedented,' and later that day told President Herzog that the government obeys the law, 'not illegal High Court decisions.' On July 13, as the law was advancing, Karhi accused Channel 12 and the Attorney General's office of trying to block the bill. Coalition politicians, as reported by ynet on July 15, had stated that a High Court order cancelling a law is 'meaningless' and must not be obeyed.
The legal status of the interim order remains in dispute. The court has yet to rule on requests for an interim injunction, and Karhi's call for a Knesset decision to override the court's authority introduces a novel constitutional question. No further court proceedings have been scheduled.
14 developments
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