Chief justice scolds Levin for refusing to meet him, says Israeli democracy in ‘turbulent vortex’

Supreme Court President Isaac Amit chastises Justice Minister Yariv Levin for the latter’s ongoing refusal to meet with him, saying that by so doing Levin is boycotting the entire judiciary.

Amit also expresses concern for harsh rhetoric directed against the judiciary as well as repeated, severe disturbances by members of the public inside courtrooms, and says further that in recent years “Israel’s ‘airplane’ of democracy has fallen into a turbulent vortex from which we have not yet emerged.”

In a speech at a conference of the Israeli Association of Public Law in Haifa, Amit says Levin’s 18-month refusal to meet with him and his predecessor Uzi Vogelman meant that key positions within the judiciary which need the cooperation of the justice minister and the Supreme Court president cannot be filled, including a president for the Lod-Central District Court, and deputy-presidents for 19 other courts.

“What reason is there to refrain from appointing a vice president to the Jerusalem Family Court? Why refrain from appointing a vice president to the Krayot Magistrate’s Court? Why harm all the litigants in the Central District by preventing the appointment of a president to the [Lod] District Court?” Amit asks in his speech.

He says he has repeatedly reached out to Levin to restart cooperation, but that his requests have been ignored.

“For about a year and a half, the justice minister has been boycotting the judicial system, thereby boycotting the Israeli public who turn to the courts,” says Amit.

“The justice minister’s conduct has one clear purpose, which he himself said last April: ‘What was built here over decades takes time to dismantle, it doesn’t end in one day.’ These words speak for themselves,” he adds.

Levin stopped meeting with Vogelman in mid-2024, when Vogelman refused to accede to a demand from the justice minister to ditch the seniority system for appointing a president, whereby the Supreme Court justice with the most years on the court becomes the sole candidate for the position. The system is intended to prevent politicization of the selection process.

Levin then refused to call a vote in the Judicial Selection Committee for appointing a new president, since he did not have enough votes to appoint his preferred pick, Yosef Elron, leading the High Court of Justice to eventually order Levin to hold a vote in January this year after 16 months in which he had refused to do so.

Levin has boycotted Amit ever since, refuses to meet with him or address him as president, and has even failed to publish his appointment as president in the state gazette, as required by law.