Netanyahu government defies court, raising constitutional crisis fears as election nears
A July 20, 2026 PBS NewsHour report by Nick Schifrin, with producer Karl Bostic in Tel Aviv, examines the political landscape after the dissolution of Israel’s parliament set up elections in October. Netanyahu, the country’s longest-serving leader, is facing questions about his handling of the October 7 attacks and their aftermath, alongside a standoff with the judiciary: earlier in the month his Likud party said for the first time that a Supreme Court ruling — in a dispute over the sale of a news channel — could be disregarded.
Critics interviewed in the piece, including retired Supreme Court justice Ayala Procaccia and government-transparency advocates, characterize the move as part of a years-long erosion of judicial checks dating to the 2023 push to change how judges are selected. Supporters of judicial reform, such as former ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren, counter that the court has expanded its use of judicial review over recent decades without any democratic input into who sits on it — though Oren also says Netanyahu has lost the confidence of many Israelis. Retired army chief Gadi Eisenkot, currently leading in polls against Netanyahu, ties the judicial fight to broader dissatisfaction over unresolved conflicts in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran.