Karhi urges Levin to advance legislation to change composition of Judicial Selection Committee in government’s favor
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Responding to the High Court’s decision ordering Justice Minister Yariv Levin to hold a vote to appoint a new Supreme Court president within a month, Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi calls on Levin to “bring the law to change the composition of the Judicial Selection Committee for a second and third reading.”
Levin has refused to appoint a new Supreme Court president for over a year since he did not have the votes in the Judicial Selection Committee to install a hardline conservative justice he favors — rather than Acting Supreme Court President Isaac Amit, who is next in line for the position under the current seniority system.
Karhi criticizes what he describes as the “arrogance” of Amit, declaring that he “will not be president of the High Court” and that today’s ruling is “illegal, invalid and must not be obeyed in any way.”
“I call on the justice minister to bring the law to change the composition of the Judicial Selection Committee for a second and third reading,” he concludes.
In September, The Times of Israel reported that Levin was considering reviving a bill to change the composition of the Judicial Selection Committee, the most controversial component of his judicial overhaul agenda, which would grant the government almost complete control over all judicial appointments in the country, including that of the Supreme Court president.
The bill brought the country to near anarchy when it was on the cusp of being passed in March 2023, leading Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to freeze the legislation.
Speaking with The Times of Israel in October, Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee chairman Simcha Rothman, one of the architect’s of the government’s judicial overhaul, said that the bill will become law “the second there is political will in the coalition to pass it.”