Two Israeli ministers present a new reform to limit the influence of the Supreme Court in the election of judges

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MADRID Jan. 9 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Ministers of Justice and Foreign Affairs of Israel, Yariv Levin and Gideon Saar, presented this Thursday a new judicial reform that would allow limiting the influence of Supreme Court judges in appointments to Israel’s highest court.

The legislation proposes to eliminate the two representatives of the Bar Association from the Judicial Selection Committee, made up of nine members, and replace them with lawyers with experience in litigation. One of them will be chosen by the ruling coalition, while the other will be chosen by the opposition.

Similarly, the text would also allow for the elimination of the veto power of the Supreme Court representatives in the committee regarding the appointment of new judges for the highest court as long as a majority supports the candidate, according to the newspaper ‘Haaretz’.

The elections to the Supreme Court will be held by a majority of five votes compared to the current seven. On the other hand, the elections of judges for lower courts will be decided by a simple majority in the committee and must include votes from a member of the coalition, from the opposition, as well as a judge from the Supreme Court.

Levin and Saar have also proposed depriving the Supreme Court of its authority to review certain Basic Laws. The new legislation, which will have to be voted on in Parliament and which has been interpreted as a watered-down attempt to put judicial reform back into public debate, would not come into force until the next legislature.

Israel does not have a formal Constitution and has a battery of Basic Laws that regulate the separation of powers and that the Supreme Court uses as a starting point when determining whether the laws approved by Parliament conform to this legal framework or represent a violation thereof.

This occurs after the Supreme Court annulled last week the amendment to the so-called Basic Judicial Law, the most important norm approved within the framework of the controversial judicial reform promoted by the Government of Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

This judicial reform was the trigger for months of mobilizations against Netanyahu, whom the opposition accuses of attacking the division of powers. The protests only ceased after the October 7 attacks by Hamas on Israeli soil that left some 1,200 dead and 240 hostages.