The Harm to Women’s Rights as a Result of Proposed Regime Changes: Summary of Position Paper

February 19, 2023

The Israeli Law Professors’ Forum for Democracy, an ad hoc and voluntary group of experts on Israeli law and specifically Israeli public law, expresses its grave concern over the apparent intention to abolish the independence of the judiciary, to subordinate it to the government and to the partisan political considerations of the executive branch, to undermine the independent status of the attorney generals and legal advisors, and to violate human rights. In this position paper, and in view of such intention and its implications, we relate to the anticipated violation of women’s rights, as reflected in the government composition and appointments, the coalition agreements, bills proposed by coalition members, and in the actions and declarations of the government and government officials. The conclusion of this position paper is that the totality of actions, commitments, and legislative changes on the part of the government and the coalition severely violate the rights of all women in Israel and reverse the situation of women’s rights in Israel in the gravest manner since the establishment of the State.