In effective ultimatum, Levin tells court to accept his plan for appointing next chief

Shortly after his previous statement threatening to revive the judicial overhaul, Justice Minister Yariv Levin issues an effective ultimatum for the Supreme Court to take up a proposal he floated in August for choosing its next chief justice, which the court’s then-interim president rejected.

“The fair compromise proposal that I offered the judges is still on the table,” he says. “I once again emphasize what I’ve said the entire way — the way of consent and dialogue is and remains the best and most preferable. At the same time, there will be no acceptance of unilateral diktats that trample the majority of the people.”

If accepted at the time, Levin’s proposal would have delayed now interim Supreme Court President Isaac Amit’s ascension to the post, as the justice minister viewed him as too liberal, with Levin instead calling for conservative Justice Yosef Elron to first serve as the court’s top judge for a year before Amit, who would then serve another year.