Levin doubles down on refusal to have judicial appointments ‘forced’ on him

Justice Minister Yariv Levin doubles down on his stated refusal to have judicial appointments “forced” on him by cooperating with the Judicial Selection Committee, and says he’ll unilaterally publish a list of the judges he wants to promote.

In a lengthy social media post, Levin also says he’ll increase the number of judges on family, traffic and juvenile courts.

The post continues a long-running feud between Levin and High Court President Isaac Amit, whose authority Levin doesn’t recognize and whom the justice minister has refused to work with.

Levin has refused to convene the Judicial Selection Committee, despite dozens of vacancies throughout the court system.

Levin, who has sought to weaken the court system via a sweeping judicial overhaul, last convened the committee in January 2025. He has sought to avoid doing so again until after this year’s election, when a new law will take effect that increases politicians’ influence over judicial appointments.

In February, the High Court of Justice ordered Levin to justify his refusal to convene the committee. At the time, he said at a right-wing conference, “I will not enable and will not agree to a situation in which they force appointments on us that do not reflect the public.”

His post today used similar language, vowing, “I will not allow the attempt to force upon me the appointment of judges to the High Court, as long as the boycott on the worthy candidates I have proposed continues.”

He added, “I will publish for the record the candidacies of presidents of magistrates’ courts for appointment to the district court.”