Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin has announced his intention to relaunch the controversial judicial reform, suspended since the start of the war against Hamas. In a long message published Saturday evening, he accuses the Supreme Court of having “left him no choice” after it forced him to appoint a new president within a month. “The government acted responsibly by suspending everything related to reform when the war broke out. The Court, with unprecedented irresponsibility, decided to take advantage of this to continue seizing the powers of the Knesset and government,” Levin says.
The bill, which had already been adopted at first reading before its suspension, aims to modify the composition of the judges selection committee. Shortly after this announcement, the minister published a second message specifying that “the fair compromise proposal proposed to the judges remains on the table”.
The ultra-Orthodox parties, however, set their conditions. “We will not support any changes until the conscription law is passed. Levin is making noise for nothing,” they said Saturday evening.
The president of the Israeli Bar Association, Amit Bechar, reacted strongly by accusing the minister of “lying to the public”. “He never sought appeasement or consensus. All he wanted was to appoint his followers to the Supreme Court and prevent the appointment of a president,” he said.
The move comes as coalition leaders are due to meet on Sunday to discuss the possible dismissal of the government’s legal adviser, Gali Baharav-Miara. According to sources in the judicial system cited by Ynet, “the three most powerful men in Israeli politics now have an interest in trying to intimidate the advisor: the Prime Minister because of her trial, Minister Ben Gvir because of the blocking of his political intervention in the police, and Shas leader Arieh Deri on the issue of conscription”.
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