ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that the decisions of the Israeli Supreme Court (ISC) should indeed be viewed as general attempts to affect policy, and not merely as individual decisions. It argues that in addition to the various claims exists a unique reason for judicial intervention in military and security matters. Granted, the ISC intervenes in security matters less than in other spheres of national life. More specifically, the process whereby judges are nominated to the Supreme Court has become politicized, with politicians taking care not to select candidates whose record indicates a tendency to adopt "activist" positions. Politically, the position of the ISC is complicated. Israel enjoys the legitimacy that judicial review provides for its actions, and hails this judicial review as proof for its democratic character. The ISC has addressed this danger too by adopting strict standards of review respecting the way in which security forces make use of the powers at their disposal.
