Supreme Court chief rails against failed Knesset proposal to probe judges

Supreme Court Chief Justice Esther Hayut rails against a proposed parliamentary panel to investigate judges’ alleged conflicts of interests, which the Knesset voted against establishing earlier this month.

“Alongside the coronavirus wave, the judiciary also has to deal with another murky wave, which reached the lowest level with the proposal to establish a committee to examine ‘conflicts of interests of senior justice system officials,'” she writes in a letter to court employees.

She adds: “This is a proposal that stems from non-substantive motives that is meant to gore the judicial branch in an attempt to terrorize us and harm judicial independence and the public’s faith in the courts.”

The proposal, which was championed by far-right MK Bezalel Smotrich, received backing from Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Likud party but was rejected by the Knesset plenum.