The battle over the bill meant to allow the Knesset to overrule the High Court of Justice on certain issues in a multifaceted one. The High Court recently disqualified a bill advocating detaining illegal migrants without trial. Such detention is unheard of in democracies or in Jewish or Western law, and we all must oppose a situation that allows authorities to detain an individual without trial. But the law, they say, only starts with illegal migrants. It may be expanded to the point where anyone deemed problematic by the regime may be arrested -- history is full of such examples. The truth is the issue has been overstated. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to build a fence along the Israel-Egypt border resolved much of this problem, while simultaneously, thousands of illegal migrants have left Israel of their own accord. Even those who are still concerned with the illegal infiltration problem know that there is a need for updated legislation, if only because every person deserves his day in court. It is not the High Court that needs to change -- the current legislation needs to change, to include severe punitive action against infiltrators who refuse to return to their countries of origin. There is a matter of great principle at the heart of this debate: Even those who assume the High Court erred in disqualifying the infiltrators bill must consider the immense danger of subjecting the bench to political interests. The assertion that as justices serving on the High Court are not elected public officials they are inferior to MKs, reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the rule of law. It is better to have a High Court that errs on occasion, than one that bends to the will of politicians. It is a shame that many politicians, including in the Likud, fail to understand this simple truth. Still, the bill seeking to undermine the High Court of Justice will not pass -- if only because Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni will not let that happen, and neither will Netanyahu. Red tape will prevail, but this time it will be for the greater good.
