Basic Laws of Israel

The Israeli Supreme Court President Aharon Barak ruled that the Basic Laws should be considered the state's constitution,[7] and that became the common approach throughout his tenure (1995–2006).

Another factor was the opposition of David Ben-Gurion[8][9] (Prime Minister 1948–1954 and 1955–1963), who thought that a formal written constitution would allow the Israeli Supreme Court to overrule his socialist policies.

[11] Various[quantify] bodies in Israel have called for the enactment of a formal constitution as a single document, and have submitted ideas and drafts for consideration.

These calls increased during the 2023 anti-judicial reform protests, when multiple opposition figures and civil society organizations proposed the codification of the Basic Laws into a formal constitution.

There is no clear rule determining the precedence of Basic Laws over regular legislation, and in many cases, such issues are left to interpretation by the judicial system.

[20] However, near the same time as the Rogozinsky case, the Court began to indicate a different posture with regard to judicial review of entrenched Basic Laws.

[25][26] In 1992 the Knesset passed the first two Basic Laws that related to human rights and to the basis of the Supreme Court's recently declared[clarification needed] powers of judicial review.

[27][28] These were passed by votes of 32–21 and 23–0 respectively, and Knesset debates indicate that many MKs were not aware that these laws pertained to the constitutional entrenchment of any rights nor that they affected the status of judicial review in Israel.

[29] However, Justice Aharon Barak, who would become President of the Supreme Court, explicitly declared that the passage of these Basic Laws had initiated a constitutional revolution in Israel.

[30][31][32] Barak’s declaration of a “constitutional revolution” presaged his majority opinion in the landmark 1995 Bank Mizrahi v. Migdal Cooperative Village case.

[35] The Court’s main reasoning was that the Knesset holds two distinct roles within the Israeli state depending on the type of legislation it is enacting.

[36] This marked a significant departure from the British system of parliamentary sovereignty that Israel inherited and practiced prior to the Constitutional Revolution, as it permitted a Knesset to bind its successors.