Israeli Supreme Court orders government to convene committee to appoint new Supreme Court president

September 8 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Israel’s Supreme Court on Sunday ordered the Israeli government to convene a Judicial Selection Committee to elect a new Supreme Court president, thereby frustrating an attempt by Justice Minister Yariv Levin to exert greater control over the judicial body.

The order calls on Levin to publish the names of the candidates for the post in the official gazette within 14 days so that the committee, which Levin himself chairs, can convene its nine members “shortly after” the 45-day deadline following the publication of the names, according to the newspaper ‘The Times of Israel’.

Under these circumstances, liberal Justice Isaac Amit would almost certainly be elected Chief Justice, as he is the court’s most senior judge and enjoys the support of a majority of the Committee’s members.

Following the Supreme Court’s ruling, Levin himself announced that he would not recognise the next president of the judicial body because he believes that he had been elected in an “illegal” manner.

“A coercively and invalidly appointed president of the Suremo brings the waning trust in this court to an even lower low,” he said. “I will not be able to work with a president who is illegally elected, appointed by his friends and who is illegitimate in the eyes of a large part of the population,” he added.

Levin believes that the Supreme Court’s order “overturns democracy and the path to agreements opened in recent months.” “It is a step backwards for Israel,” he said.

The minister, the main supporter of the controversial judicial reform contested by the opposition until the attack on October 7, has vetoed for months the election of a new president of the Supreme Court with the intention of having the post go to the conservative Yosef Elron.