The Reasonableness Law or "Reasonableness Argument" is a legal argument adopted by Israeli law to monitor the executive authority, allowing the Supreme Court to intervene when the actions of the executive are extremely unreasonable. Consequently, it has the right to annul laws and administrative decisions on the grounds that they are "unreasonable." According to the Israeli newspaper "Yedioth Ahronoth," "the reasonableness standard is part of the checks and balances mechanism, and it is an important tool used by the court to protect public rights against arbitrary government decisions." Furthermore, if the decisions of an elected official are influenced by external, discriminatory, or arbitrary considerations, or if significant information is disregarded, such decisions can be ruled out as unreasonable.
It is one of several bills promoted by the current Israeli government under the label of "judicial reform," which the opposition claims aims to limit judicial power and transform Israel into a dictatorship. Netanyahu and his allies began proposing a bill in the Knesset to prevent the Israeli judiciary from using the established "Reasonableness Argument."
The origin of the legislation is from British jurisprudence, which grants the courts broad authority to intervene in governmental appointments and other decisions believed to affect protected individual rights. In Israeli judicial practice, the British law from the mandate period has evolved over the years to become one of the strongest means of invalidating government decisions that contradict public welfare, especially concerning appointing individuals accused of criminal actions in public service.
On July 11, the ruling coalition passed the "Abolition of the Reasonableness Test" law in its first reading in the Knesset, which will transform into a basic law for the government. A modified version of the law was presented on the 20th of this month, stipulating the removal of the authority to decide on governmental decisions from the Israeli court, particularly concerning decisions made by the Prime Minister and ministers, while exempting lower-level governmental bodies from the bill.
Previously, the "Reasonableness Test" law was used to reject the appointment of ministers and security officials, including former Shin Bet chief "Yossi Ginossar," whose appointment as the Director-General of the Ministry of Construction and Housing in 1993 was rejected after he was implicated in the execution of the perpetrators of the "Bus 300" incident, where petitioners claimed that his appointment "would undermine public confidence in the ruling authority."
