Israeli Right Targets Supreme Court Overhaul as Central Election Issue

With the official start of the election campaign following the Knesset's dissolution last week, opposition parties in Israel have launched a focused anti-Haredi campaign aimed at winning over the soft right and disappointed Religious Zionist voters, particularly on the issue of military draft exemptions. In response, the ruling coalition is shifting the battle to the judicial arena, with senior government officials pledging to complete judicial reforms, including appointing eight new Supreme Court justices to fundamentally reshape the judiciary.

The campaign against the judiciary escalated after Supreme Court Justice Ofer Grosskopf issued a conditional order freezing part of the recently passed media reform law. This move drew sharp criticism from Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, who led the legislation, and right-wing leaders Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, who declared judicial activism their main target for the next government.

Karhi condemned the court's intervention as an overreach that undermines the Knesset's authority and vowed not to cooperate with what he called an illegal judicial process. He called on the Knesset Speaker to advance a parliamentary decision on the matter and emphasized plans to appoint new judicial officials after the elections to reverse rulings that do not reflect legislative intent.

Bezalel Smotrich criticized the Supreme Court for repeatedly freezing Knesset legislation, warning that if the right does not win the upcoming elections and complete the judicial reform, the judiciary's dominance over right-wing values will only grow. Noam party leader Avi Maoz accused the court of colluding with media outlets to maintain control over public opinion, asserting that a media revolution is underway. Otzma Yehudit leader Itamar Ben-Gvir described the judiciary as "dictators in black robes" trampling elected officials' will and promised a "clean-up" of the judicial system and the deep state under the next right-wing government.

The judicial reform and the Supreme Court's role have thus become central battlegrounds in the 2026 election campaign, reflecting deep political and societal divisions in Israel.