Minister Gideon Sa’ar with Minister of Justice Yariv Levin attends a plenum session at the assembly hall of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem on November 6, 2024. Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90
Following the announcement by Israel’s High Court of Justice that Justice Minister Yariv Levin must hold a vote in the Judicial Selection Committee to elect a new Court president by January 16 , Levin called for a return to Judicial Reform legislation in a Facebook post Saturday night.
“Immediately after the outbreak of the war, the coalition announced a freeze on all discussions about the judicial reform,” Levin wrote in his post. “At that time, I thought it was inappropriate to deal with controversial issues while the country is in a multi-front war.”
Levin continued, saying that after the war began, “I announced my intention to convene the Judicial Selection Committee and to bring about the appointment of judges by broad consensus, as required during wartime.”
He suggested a position of compromise to the acting Court president after the retirement of previous Court President Esther Hayut.
The High Court has ordered Levin to convene the Judicial Selection Committee and appoint a court president as previously ordered.
In September, after being required to provide a list of candidates for the role, Levin submitted the names of all 13 high court justices, pointing out that according to the law, the committee is to be convened solely at the discretion of the justice minister.
In his post, Levin accused the High Court of usurping his powers and responsibilities as justice minister.
“Last Thursday, in an unprecedented move, the panel decided that it itself would determine the committee’s agenda and set a deadline — a vote on the appointment of the President of the Supreme Court within five weeks,” Levin wrote.
The justice minister has the responsibility for determining the agenda for the Judicial Selection Committee.
While Levin claimed that “The government acted responsibly and, with the outbreak of the war, suspended all dealings with the judicial reform,” he has threatened to bring back the controversial legal reforms several times in the past few months.
Levin also said the court is attempting to take power away from the Knesset and the government.
“The court, in its extreme irresponsibility, decided to exploit this situation to continue its takeover of the Knesset’s and the government’s powers,” he charged.
Levin called out former state attorney Moshe Lador, who earlier on Saturday, encouraged reserve pilots to stop volunteering if the Judicial Reforms are revived.
“Today, this irresponsibility was joined by former State Prosecutor Moshe Lador, who called on soldiers to announce that they would refuse to serve,” Levin fumed.
Lador made his comments at an event in Beersheba earlier Saturday, saying that refusing to volunteer for reserve duty is a “legitimate tool” for protest.
The former state prosecutor even claimed that the reserve pilots are “obligated” to refuse service in order to prevent the country turning “from a democracy into a dictatorship.”
Refusal to perform reserve service was an issue during the 2023 Judicial Reform protests, with thousands of reservists signing pledges not to perform reserve duty if certain Judicial Reform laws were passed. This led defense officials to warn that the country was being placed at risk.
Levin slammed the attempts to impose decisions on the government by unelected officials.
“This is a reality that cannot be accepted,” he continued. “The court is forcing the Knesset and the government to act, against their will, to restore their powers.”
On Sunday morning, ultra-Orthodox party United Torah Judaism said it will not support attempts to renew the Judicial Reforms without concessions regarding the haredi draft law.
“We will not support any move related to the Judicial Reform, if at all, until there is significant progress on the issue of the conscription law,” a senior United Torah Judaism party member told Ynet news on Sunday.
“Levin’s legal reform is what prevented the enactment of the [Haredi} Draft Law in the first place,” the official claimed.
“In general, we oppose the issue of ‘judicial reform,’ which leads to a rift and division among the people, and it is not certain that we will be partners in this,” the official said.
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