Former Supreme Court chief justice: Elected officials are trampling on rule of law

Former chief justice Esther Hayut on Saturday accused unspecified elected officials of trampling the rule of law as the government pushes to curb the judiciary’s powers and sideline sensitive investigations.

“One of the most dangerous instances of this is the systematic campaign to de-legitimize the judiciary,” said Hayut at the annual conference of the Israeli Association of Public Law in Haifa, in a quote carried by Hebrew media.

Some elected officials have called “not to comply with High Court rulings,” noted Hayut in footage from the event. “This is a dangerous decline, which tramples the rule of law and harms the stature of the High Court and its ability to carry out its role as guardian of individual rights and the rule of law.”

Her warning came out of a place of “great concern, but also faith and conviction that the judiciary will go on in spite of everything,” said Hayut, who served as chief justice from 2017 to 2023.

“As someone who knows Israel’s judges and the system’s devoted public workers, I know they’ll keep doing their jobs and missions as loyal public servants, despite the obstacles and difficulties that some choose to put before them,” added Hayut.

Her comments came after current Supreme Court President Isaac Amit, speaking Thursday at the same conference, accused Justice Minister Yariv Levin — who is boycotting him — of being out to dismantle the judiciary at large.

Also speaking at the conference on Thursday, Aharon Barak — whom judicial overhaul supporters accuse of overseeing a High Court power grab while chief justice from 1995 to 2006 — accused Levin of doing “damage to the whole judicial system,” and said, “We’re on the slope, and are no longer the democracy we once were.”

Levin’s boycott of Amit has been part of a wider judicial overhaul that the justice minister launched in January 2023, soon after the government took office. The overhaul sparked large-scale public protests, with critics saying it is an attempt to break down the system of checks and balances and undermine democracy.

As part of the overhaul, Levin has sought to oust Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, but was blocked by the courts. More recently, the High Court has also twice struck down Levin’s picks for investigators to probe the leak of a video purporting to show Israeli prison guards abusing a Palestinian inmate at Sde Teiman, after Baharav-Miara recused herself from the investigation.