Levin threatens to paralyze Supreme Court, sets out plans for renewed judicial overhaul

Justice Minister Yariv Levin on Sunday laid out his plans to counter Israel’s judiciary in a discussion with dozens of Likud activists on an X livestream, warning that he is prepared to paralyze the Supreme Court, defy its rulings and advance legislation declaring court decisions void.

Recordings of the conversation, obtained and published by the Walla news site on Monday, also showed Levin assailing Supreme Court President Isaac Amit, whom he has boycotted since the latter was elected, and describing his renewed push to reshape the judicial system.

In the discussion, Levin said the most important issue for him is the appointment of Supreme Court judges, and framed his ongoing judicial overhaul push as a power struggle with what he described as a “small,” “radical” elite controlling the courts.

“If you are willing to reach an agreement with me, I’m in favor,” Levin said he has told judicial leaders. “But that agreement must necessarily bring in people who have never sat on the Supreme Court before.”

If the judiciary refuses, Levin warned, he is prepared to wait it out, even at the cost of crippling the court’s ability to function. “In the next term, another five judges will be replaced… nine appointments out of 15,” he said. “That will leave them with a simple choice: either a situation in which the court essentially disappears, or has a dramatic change.”

Levin accused the Supreme Court of imposing its views on the public through judicial power.

The minister also confirmed he is moving forward with disciplinary proceedings against Supreme Court President Amit following findings by the State Ombudsman for Judges of a conflict of interest, though the ombudsman, Judge Asher Kula, closed nine of the 10 ethics complaints that had been brought against Amit.

Levin said he appointed a lawyer to oversee the case, and added that he “assumes it’s a matter of a few days until he completes drafting the complaint.”

The minister, who has been engaged in a feud with Amit for several years and has refused to meet with him for over 18 months, said again on Sunday that he refuses to recognize his authority as the court president.

“The fact that I do not recognize him, the fact that I do not work with him, has enormous significance,” he said. “A president of the Supreme Court must have cooperation from the justice minister.”

Levin also addressed the call for a state commission of inquiry into the failures that led to the October 7, 2023, attack, insisting that the commission should be government-led, and that Amit must not be involved.

“We certainly will not accept a situation in which Isaac Amit appoints the committee,” he said, warning against what he described as a biased process.

Saying Amit would “metaphorically, and perhaps even physically, go to [Tel Aviv’s] Kaplan Street,” the home of the long-running anti-judicial reform protests, “gather the committee members from there, and produce a biased report that has nothing to do with the pursuit of truth.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long opposed the formation of a state commission, claiming that, as it is appointed by the judiciary, whose powers his government has sought to curb, it would be biased against the government. Late last year, his coalition voted in a preliminary reading in favor of a controversial bill to set up a politically appointed probe.

Critics have argued that such a commission will be highly politicized since all its members will have been selected by politicians who want to avoid being found responsible for the failures.

In his comments, Levin also detailed the coalition’s latest effort to weaken the courts with a motion to be brought to a vote in the Knesset that would declare that any court orders opposing amendments to quasi-constitutional Basic Laws are null and void.

If passed, Levin said the bill would be “a clear declaration by Knesset that says: these laws remain in force; the annulment was done without authority.”

“We’re sick of this hostility,” Levin said of the courts’ rulings to annul government orders on procedural or constitutional grounds. “We are not a doormat. The voter’s ballot is not something that can be ignored,” he added.

Such a motion would not have the force of law, but would symbolically pit the Knesset against the High Court, and further prepare the ground for the government to disobey the court over such decisions, creating a severe constitutional crisis.