Israel Bar Association (IBA) President Amit Becher was expelled from a meeting of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee on Wednesday following a heated dispute with MP Hanoch Milwidsky (Likud).
During a discussion of a Milwidsky-sponsored bill to transfer authority to set IBA member dues to Justice Minister Yariv Levin, Becher accused the lawmaker’s Likud party of lying about the budget of his institution, triggering an altercation in the plenum.
Committee chairman Simcha Rothman ordered Becher expelled from the room, who was escorted out of Parliament by bailiffs.
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Last week, Becher accused Levin of using the bill to blackmail him into bar representatives voting in favor of the Supreme Court justices he supports.
“Levin sent me official representatives on his behalf who made it clear that if the Israel Bar Association cooperated with him on the judge selection committee to thwart the appointment of Isaac Amit as president of the the Supreme Court and appoint justices to the Supreme Court that Levin supports, the dues bill [de l’IBA] will be scrapped along with other laws that will harm the Israel Bar Association,” Becher told Times of Israel.
Levin’s office declined to respond to a request for comment.
Levin has waged a year-long battle against the nomination of Amit, a liberal judge, as the next chief justice, as part of his widely controversial agenda to overhaul the justice system, in which he seeks to serve government control over the justice system and moving it in a more conservative direction.
The Minister of Justice refused to hold a vote for the appointment of a new president of the Supreme Court in the judicial selection committee for almost a year after the retirement of the former president, because he knew there were enough votes, including those of the two IBA representatives, to nominate Amit.
The Supreme Court sitting as the High Court of Justice ruled in September that Levin was legally obliged to hold a vote on appointing a new president as soon as possible. The justice minister reluctantly scheduled a vote for November 28.
Becher called the bill “a law aimed at taking political control of the IBA” and “an attempt at blackmail by Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who has lost control.”
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