Amit rebuffs Levin’s call to drop Supreme Court presidency bid over misconduct claims

Acting chief justice refuses justice minister’s demand, alleging an ‘organized smear campaign’ against him against the backdrop of Levin’s 15-month effort to foil his appointment

Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter

Justice Minister Yariv Levin (left) attends a plenum session in the Knesset on November 13, 2024. (Chaim Goldbergl/Flash90); Acting Supreme Court President Justice Isaac Amit at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, November 14, 2024 (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Justice Minister Yariv Levin (left) attends a plenum session in the Knesset on November 13, 2024. (Chaim Goldbergl/Flash90); Acting Supreme Court President Justice Isaac Amit at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, November 14, 2024 (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Justice Minister Yariv Levin on Wednesday called on Acting Supreme Court President Isaac Amit to suspend his candidacy for permanent president of the country’s top court, due to a new slew of media reports alleging that Amit has served on cases in which he had conflicts of interest.

Levin contended that Amit should suspend his candidacy until the allegations against him are clarified, saying that this would be the standard expected of any other candidate for public office.

Amit rebuffed the demand, insisting that the allegations were part of an “organized smear campaign” designed to thwart his appointment as chief justice.

The acting Supreme Court president said he would provide rebuttals to all the allegations against him.

Levin has refused to appoint a new court president for 15 months — since the previous head retired — due to his opposition to Amit, a liberal justice. Levin has sought the appointment of a conservative to head the Supreme Court, but does not have the votes in the Judicial Selection Committee to appoint him.

The Supreme Court, sitting in its capacity as the High Court of Justice, has ruled that Levin has exceeded his authority in refusing to appoint a new president.

Attorney General Gali Baharav Miara and Justice Minister Yariv Levin at a farewell ceremony for retiring acting Supreme Court President Uzi Vogelman, at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem on October 1, 2024. (Oren Ben Hakoon/POOL)

The court has now ordered Levin three times to hold a vote for a new court president, first in September when it told him to make the appointment “in short order,” then in December when it gave him a deadline of January 16 to finally appoint a new head of the judiciary, and then on January 16 itself when it gave him another 10 days to make the appointment in order to examine the allegations that had begun to emerge against Amit.

Levin has yet to schedule a hearing of the Judicial Selection Committee for Sunday, January 26.

In his letter to Amit on Wednesday night, Levin detailed the various allegations made in recent media reports.

He cited a Channel 12 news report that said Amit had been a member of a judicial panel hearing petitions demanding the reversal of cabinet minister David Amsalem’s decision to abolish Israel’s “Pool of Directors,” a group of candidates for membership on the boards of directors of government companies.

The report noted that Amit’s brother, Hanoch Goldfreind, was among the 400 candidates in the “Pool of Directors,” and that Amit did not recuse himself from the case but instead issued an order freezing Amsalem’s decision.

Amit said in response that his brother’s membership in the pool of candidates was anyway due to expire in 2021 and his decision therefore had no bearing on his brother — although Goldfreind was reelected to the Pool of Directors in 2022.

Levin cited other examples in which he alleged that Amit had conflicts of interest, including cases in which the First International Bank, on whose board of directors his brother served, was involved.

Another example cited by Levin was a case Amit heard in which the AM:PM convenience store chain was “the primary [party] affected by the outcome.” Levin said that Amit’s brother-in-law was at the time chairman of the Dor Alon group, which AM:PM is part of.

Levin also noted that Amit sat on cases involving the concerns of the Tel Aviv municipal authority at a time when an indictment had been served by the Tel Aviv municipal authority against a group of property owners, including Amit, for safety violations in their mutually owned property. The indictment was later dismissed.

“This group of cases seemingly indicates a regular pattern in which you sat on cases in which you had a conflict of interest, or in which there is a serious appearance of a conflict of interest,” alleged Levin.

“If any of these reports were published about a candidate for any public office, they would immediately require comprehensive examination and the provision of full answers to the [relevant] selection committee, and the entire public, prior to the appointment,” the justice minister continued.

He added that this was all the more important when dealing with “the person running for the high office of president of the Supreme Court of the State of Israel.”

Amit said in response that he had no intention of suspending his candidacy.

“I do not intend to capitulate to the organized smear campaign being waged against me recently, the sole purpose of which is to thwart my appointment as president of the Supreme Court and to undermine public confidence in the judiciary,” said Amit in a statement to the press.

“Detailed and pertinent answers to all the allegations raised have been and will be provided, refuting every one of them, and the matter must be brought to the decision of the Judicial Selection Committee.”

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