Yamina’s Bezalel Smotrich warns that when his party returns to power there will be no dialogue over judicial appointments, after a panel appointed 61 new judges despite a boycott by three right-wing MKs.
Yesterday the Judicial Appointments Committee convened and selected 61 new judges, despite three coalition lawmakers refusing to take part over the nomination of two Arab justices they accused of anti-Zionism. They claimed — apparently mistakenly — that the panel could not legally convene without them.
Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn “did what was expected of him by his camp. He’s an aggressive, forceful politician who took advantage of an opportunity to use his power without consideration,” say Smotrich, who is a member of the opposition.
Yamina MK Bezalel Smotrich speaks during a Knesset plenum session in Jerusalem on August 24, 2020. (Oren Ben Hakoon/Pool/Flash90)
“We on the right have much to learn from this. When we are in power we are considerate, and here the left acts without any consideration,” he claims, adding: “When we return to power, no one should expect us to hold a dialogue.”
We can't do this work alone.
The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident – ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded – I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.
There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.
As a Times of Israel reporter, I’m committed to telling stories of resilience like Shilgit’s. But my colleagues and I can't do this alone. If you value work like this,please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to keep real human reporting like this going.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
From the Liveblog of
Monday, December 7, 2020
