Live Update arrow right icon From the Liveblog of Tuesday, July 9, 2024

Rothman kicks 4 opposition MKs out of hearing on appointing judicial ombudsman

By Sam Sokol 9 July 2024, 6:05 pm 14 Edit

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"

MK Simcha Rothman, head of the Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, leads a meeting in the Knesset on July 9, 2024. (Noam Moskowitz/Knesset Spokesman)
MK Simcha Rothman, head of the Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, leads a meeting in the Knesset on July 9, 2024. (Noam Moskowitz/Knesset Spokesman)

Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee chairman Simcha Rothman (Religious Zionism) orders the removal of four opposition lawmakers during a stormy debate over a government-backed bill relating to the selection of the state ombudsman for judges.

Faced with vocal opposition, Rothman ejects Yesh Atid MKs Yorai Lahav Hertzanu, Yoav Segalovitz and Moshe Tur-Paz, as well as Labor lawmaker Gilad Kariv, for disrupting the proceedings.

During the meeting, critics of the bill accuse Rothman of seeking to revive the government’s controversial judicial overall, with Yesh Atid MK Karine Elharrar asserting that he is working toward “the blatant politicization” of the position of ombudsman and that it is “not a far-fetched scenario that the commissioner will be asked to recommend the removal of judges who are ‘not nationalistic enough.'”

The ombudsman provides oversight and investigates complaints against judges and has until now been chosen by the Judicial Appointments Committee — a body that includes representatives of the High Court, Knesset and Bar Association — following a joint nomination by the justice minister and the president of the High Court.

Under the new bill, which was authored by Rothman — one of the architects of the government’s deeply controversial judicial overall proposals — the ombudsman would be appointed by the president following a vote in the Knesset, with representatives of the judicial system cut out of both the nomination and selection process. Instead, a group of 10 lawmakers or the justice minister would be empowered to nominate candidates.

The measure was approved in a preliminary reading in the plenum last week and is now being debated in committee in preparation for its first reading in the Knesset.

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