Articles for tag: coronavirus lawCOVID-19Exekutivbefugnisseparliamentary control

The Paradox of Israel’s Coronavirus Law

On January 12, 2021, the Israeli Supreme Court sitting as High Court of Justice (HCJ) will hear arguments in a series of cases challenging the constitutionality of Israel’s Coronavirus Law. This Law was enacted on July 23, 2020, to replace the Israeli government’s reliance on general emergency powers. It was supposed to curb the government’s powers on restricting rights and ensure parliamentary supervision of enacted measures. In fact, however, it handed the government new executive lawmaking powers rather than limiting them.

Lock-Down to Avoid Lock-Up?

Whether and to what extent public demonstrations can legitimately be limited in times of a pandemic is a challenge many countries are facing these days. In Israel, however, the COVID-19 crisis is intertwined with an ongoing political crisis. Citizens take to the street against a government which uses the pandemic as an argument to restrict those very protests. With a second lock-down imminent, is freedom of assembly in danger in Israel?