Emergency Law in Israel - Current Status

Abstract

This paper describes legal Israeli approaches to emergencies. It discusses emergencies in Israel from three perspectives: First, it provides a historical and theoretical background to the Israeli law of emergencies; Second, it analyzes the issue of judicial review over emergencies; third, it describes current developments in the use of emergency powers. The paper divides the history of the use of emergency powers to several different periods, explaining the dynamics of the balance between the different branches of government in these distinct periods. Regarding the current use of emergencies, the main claim presented is that due to political and legal developments, emergencies in Israel are treated as part of the normal operation of democracy. This approach has had two distinct, sometimes conflicting effects. On the one hand, judicial review over the use of emergency measures is quite strict. On the other hand, certain legal measures are used in Israel on a daily basis, which would have been conceivable in any other democracy only in times of actual (as opposed to legal) emergency.