Former Supreme Court presidents, dozens of judges demand PM halt attacks on judiciary

Four former Supreme Court presidents along with dozens of other retired Supreme Court and lower court judges call on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to rein in the vitriolic rhetorical attacks of cabinet ministers and coalitions MKs against the judiciary, the Supreme Court, and its current head Supreme Court President Isaac Amit, that have been made in recent days.

The judges say the “unbridled” attacks have used language that could be understood as incitement to violence, and assert that the vilification of the judiciary has the potential to do immediate damage to Israel’s legal system, which would undermine Israeli democracy and Zionism itself.

The letter was signed by former Supreme Court presidents Uzi Vogelman, Esther Hayut, Dorit Beinisch and Aharon Barak, and included a total of 142 retired judges.

A spokesperson for Netanyahu did not respond to a request for comment.

“We, retired judges and presidents of the courts in Israel, hereby express our deep concern in light of the campaign of smears, verbal violence, insults and contempt that have been uttered for some time toward the judges of Israel and the person who stands at their head, Supreme Court President Isaac Amit,” write the judges.

These attacks have become “a daily spectacle of unbridled systemic outrage threatening the democratic basis of the country,” the judges continue, and point to comments by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich that the government would “trample” on Amit as implying “incitement to actual acts of violence” against the Supreme Court president.

“Without a properly functioning judicial system and without independent judicial review, Israeli democracy will give way to the wild arbitrariness of a coercive government and a profound fracture of the Zionist dream,” they continue in reference to denunciations by the government of Supreme Court rulings in recent months.

“We, retired judges and presidents of all the courts in Israel, hereby call on the prime minister to act immediately with all means at his disposal to put an end to the dangerous phenomena of dangerous attacks against the judiciary and President Amit, who deserves full trust and praise for the manner in which he fulfills his duties,” they write.

They also call on the law enforcement agencies to ensure judges’ safety.