Likud MK Ofir Katz named to judge oversight panel

The Knesset House Committee has selected its chairman, Ofir Katz, as its representative on the committee that chooses the state ombudsman for judges.

The judicial ombudsman oversees disciplinary procedures against judges. Last month, the Knesset passed a law dramatically changing how the position is filled, creating a new seven-member committee tasked only with the appointment.

The law is widely seen as giving lawmakers a greater say in how the justice system is run.

The committee for appointing the ombudsman comprises seven members including the justice minister, who will chair the panel; the labor minister; an MK to be chosen by the Knesset; a retired judge to be chosen by the Supreme Court; a retired judge to be chosen by the presidents of the district courts; a retired rabbinical courts judge to be chosen by the chief rabbis; and the public defender.

Any member of the committee will be empowered to nominate two candidates. The committee will then choose a new ombudsman based on a majority vote.

The choice of Katz, a Likud MK who is also coalition whip, comes after Opposition Leader Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party announced that it had withdrawn its lawmakers’ candidacies for spots on the committee and a second panel tasked with appointing the attorney general because it would “not take part in the continued systematic destruction of the judicial system and the dismantling of the status of gatekeepers.”

The Knesset Constitution Committee is slated to select the Knesset’s representative on the attorney general selection committee this afternoon.