Rightist Knesset members were up in arms yesterday over the High Court of Justice's ruling on the so-called Intifada Law, but leftist MKs welcomed the decision.

MK Michael Eitan (Likud), a former chair of the Knesset Constitution Committee, asked Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik to schedule an urgent plenum debate on the ruling. "If the overturning of Knesset legislation continues, the High Court will liquidate the existence of Israeli democracy and the army's defensive capabilities," he said.

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Likud faction chairman Gideon Sa'ar declared that "the ruling turns the state treasury into an ATM for Palestinian terror." Noting that under the ruling, the state will now, in effect, be compensating both sides of the conflict - Israeli terror victims, who are compensated under the Victims of Enemy Action Law, and also Palestinians hurt in counterterror operations - he added: "No democratic country sentences itself to such a distorted rule in its war on terror."

MK Zevulun Orlev (National Religious Party) said the court "has tied the Israel Defense Forces' hands and given the terrorist organizations legitimacy for operating under cover of the Palestinian population." The same court that upheld welfare cuts for Israeli citizens, he charged, "is now generously allocating welfare out of the Israeli taxpayer's money to a Palestinian population that gives aid and comfort to terror. There is no option but to set up a constitutional court that will reflect the positions of the Israeli public."

MK Otniel Schneller (Kadima) said the ruling strengthens those who provide cover for terrorists and hinders IDF operations.

MK Benny Elon (National Union) said: "The High Court, which overturns laws and doesn't understand that we are at war, is becoming one of Israel's most difficult existential problems. We must change the system."

In contrast, most leftist MKs welcomed the ruling. MK Zahava Gal-On (Meretz) said the law was immoral and unjust, while fellow Meretz MK Ran Cohen commented: "It's fortunate there is a High Court that time after time saves the Knesset and the government from themselves. It is the last defender of human rights."

MK Orit Noked (Labor) added: "The High Court is one of the pillars of Israeli democracy, and it is inconceivable that every time a certain ruling does not find favor with one side or another, MKs should assail the court's status and role."

Current Constitution Committee Chair Menachem Ben-Sasson (Kadima) staked out a position all his own: He was "astonished," he said, by all the uproar, since "it is the MKs' responsibility to determine the relationship among the branches of government, via a constitution" - and until this is done, they have no one but themselves to blame.