Herzog, opposition leaders assail government for declaring it will disobey High Court

President Isaac Herzog, the attorney general, and opposition party leaders tore into the government on Sunday after it announced that, for the first time, it had no intention of heeding a decision handed down by the High Court of Justice last month, setting up a constitutional crisis and potential legal anarchy.

The timing of the government’s announcement, months before the election, led some critics, including the chair of the left-wing Democrats party, to suggest that it was a deliberate attempt by the ruling coalition to weaken democracy and keep its grip on power even if it loses at the ballot box.

The High Court ruled last month that the Council of the Second Authority commercial broadcasting regulatory body could resume operations despite lacking a two-thirds quorum of members, as it suspected members of the council had resigned deliberately to stymie its operations.

But the government rejected the High Court’s ruling on the matter, saying on Sunday that it unanimously approved a resolution proposed by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi and Justice Minister Yariv Levin, declaring that it would not recognize any decisions made by the Second Authority’s council in its current status.

The fight over the membership of the Second Authority’s council centers around a proposed buyout of Channel 13 by a group of high-tech entrepreneurs, headed by a prominent critic of the government, which the council must approve.

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Organizations that petitioned the High Court against the government alleged that Karhi and the government tried to assert political control over the council to thwart the buyout. And the court itself, in an interim order in May, all but accused Karhi of unlawfully exerting influence over the council in an effort to hinder its operations and, by extension, the Channel 13 acquisition.

In disobeying the High Court, the government could create a constitutional crisis if the Council of the Second Authority makes decisions that the court would consider valid but that the government rejects.

‘An illegal government’

In a rare rebuke of the government, Herzog also issued a statement warning that disobeying the High Court would be “a red line.”

“Statements calling for noncompliance with [High Court] rulings strike at the heart of the nation’s unity,” he wrote on X. “I have made this clear before, and I will repeat it again and again: Refusing to comply with a court ruling is a red line that must not be crossed under any circumstances.”

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara said the cabinet’s declaration “is another grave attempt to thwart judicial decisions issued by the High Court… and to intimidate anyone who seeks to implement those decisions or rely on them.”

She added that the declaration “undermines the fundamental principles of the rule of law.”

Yashar party chief Gadi Eisenkot, seen as a main challenger to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rule in the upcoming election, accused the government of “assaulting Israeli democracy.”

“Netanyahu is dividing Israel,” he charged. “The citizens of Israel deserve a government that unites the people — not a government that works to divide them.”

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid declared that by ignoring the High Court, the coalition had made itself into “an illegal government.”

“We will not accept its rulings and decisions,” he stressed.

Lapid’s partner in the upcoming election, former prime minister Naftali Bennett, warned meanwhile that non-compliance with the court would lead to “anarchy in the streets and to the collapse of our state.”

“Soon we will fix everything,” Bennett promised. “There will be one law for everyone.”

Yair Golan, the leader of the left-wing Democrats, went a step further than his opposition allies and suggested that the government was intentionally testing the boundaries of disobeying legal decisions, and offering a preview of what will happen on election day.

“This government knows it has no chance of winning the election, and so it is waging war on the rule of law,” Golan wrote on X. “This is a criminal government that has no red lines.

“This is a government that wants to practice and normalize disobeying the court, so that it can refuse to accept the election results and vacate power after being defeated,” he warned.

“Israel was established as a democracy and will remain a democracy,” the left-wing leader vowed. “If there is anyone who plans on not accepting the voters’ decision and barricading themselves in their offices, they will be surprised by the strength of the public anger against them.”

The head of the Israel Bar Association, attorney Amit Becher, posited that it was “not coincidental that the government’s grave decision not to obey a High Court ruling is tied to the attempt to destroy press freedom.”

“One can disagree with a ruling, claim it is wrong, criticize it,” he said. “But a government can never violate a court ruling. A government that does not accept the principle that it is subject to the law and to court decisions — breaches its duty, dismantles society, and rebels against the state and the people.”

Echoing Golan’s concerns, Bechar warned of dire consequences should the government’s “declaration of war against democracy and the rule of law” go unchallenged.

“There will be no free elections here,” he predicted. “There will be no democracy here, there will be no one who is able to fight, and Israel will not survive.”

‘This is just the beginning’

In stark contrast to the fears of the opposition, members of the government painted the refusal to obey the High Court as a historic decision that only strengthened Israel’s status as a democracy.

In a self-congratulatory post on X, Karhi suggested that the government could, in the future, use Sunday’s resolution as grounds to retroactively annul “illegal decisions and actions” taken by the High Court.

היום, כ׳ בתמוז התשפ״ו, עשינו צעד היסטורי להשבת מדינת היהודים היהודית והדמוקרטית לבעליה – העם.

ממשלת ישראל אישרה היום פה אחד את ההצעה שהגשתי יחד עם שר המשפטים, ואמרה בקול ברור לפורעי החוק בבג״צ: לא!

הממשלה קבעה כי החלטת בג״צ בעניין הרשות השנייה לא חוקית, ופעולות שיבוצעו מכוחה… pic.twitter.com/JPyW2R6McL

— ????????שלמה קרעי – Shlomo Karhi (@shlomo_karhi) July 5, 2026

“This is just the beginning,” he declared in a follow-up video. “Every time the High Court makes a decision contrary to the law, we will obey the law.”

Levin, who drafted the resolution along with Karhi, chose to portray the matter as a simple “declaratory resolution” rather than a declaration of disobedience against the High Court.

It was, he said, “a very important resolution that says a very simple thing: The court is not above the law.”

“With all due respect, the Supreme Court is not above the other two authorities, above the Knesset and above the government. It is equal to them,” he asserted in an appearance at the annual Israel Hayom conference. “This is the essence of democracy.”

Later on Sunday, amid the heavy criticism, Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs denied that the cabinet decision amounted to a declaration of intention to disobey the High Court.

“Contrary to reports, the statement does not contain a single word calling for noncompliance with the High Court of Justice’s ruling,” Fuchs said on X. “Rather, it expresses sharp criticism of a ruling that contradicts the explicit wording of the law.”

He added that “the cabinet stated that it will use all legal means at its disposal to overturn the decision in the future.”

Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.