Supreme Court chief thanks Herzog for defending him after snub from Knesset speaker

Supreme Court President Isaac Amit sent a message of thanks to President Isaac Herzog yesterday, after Herzog upbraided Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana for failing to acknowledge Amit’s position as head of the judiciary during a ceremony opening the Knesset’s winter session earlier in the day.

“You said beautiful and important things about the judiciary,” Amit told Herzog in a short WhatsApp message, first reported by Channel 13 News. The Times of Israel has confirmed the report.

Herzog, in unprepared remarks from the Knesset plenum podium yesterday, slammed Ohana’s slight to Amit.

“My heart is bleeding, because there is a difference between a principled debate, which is certainly legitimate and includes legitimate opinions, and sheer discourtesy, disrespect for human dignity, disrespect toward institutions and other branches of government, and disrespect toward the judges of Israel,” Herzog said.

“We are burying today two heroic soldiers, we are burying today a hostage whose body was returned from captivity… We cannot ignore the place to which we are dragging ourselves as a people… I am not prepared to accept a situation of a basic lack of respect,” added the president, to applause from opposition MKs.

As a result of Ohana’s refusal to address Amit as president of the Supreme Court, Yesh Atid MK Karine Elharrar filed a complaint to the Knesset Ethics Committee today, accusing the speaker of deliberately violating the Knesset’s code of conduct “when he decided to disgrace the elected president of the Supreme Court, Judge Isaac Amit.”

On Monday, the Movement for Quality Government in Israel filed a petition to the Supreme Court in its capacity as the High Court of Justice, requesting that it order Justice Minister Yariv Levin to register Amit’s appointment as president in the official state gazette as required by law. Levin has declined to do so for the last eight months.