Top justice: Recent right-wing riots were attacks on rule of law, which must be defended also in wartime

Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter

Acting Chief Justice Uzi Vogelman sits at a High Court hearing, June 5, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Acting Chief Justice Uzi Vogelman sits at a High Court hearing, June 5, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Supreme Court Acting President Uzi Vogelman says in a speech to the Israel Bar Association that the rule of law in Israel must be preserved especially during wartime, something he asserts is what distinguishes Israel from its enemies.

Referencing the break-in and riots at the Sde Teiman military base and the Beit Lid military court on Monday, Vogelman insists that the independence of Israel’s civilian and military justice systems are the “foundation stones” of the rule of law, adding that what he terms the attacks against them seen this week could undermine the democratic foundations of the country.

Hundreds of right-wing and ultranationalist rioters participated in the riots on Monday, including coalition MKs and even government ministers — in protest of the arrest of nine soldiers for the alleged violent sexual assault against a Palestinian security detainee — and sought to disrupt the legal proceedings against them.

“Even when the cannons are roaring, the law must be obeyed… The rule of law is the deepest expression of the difference between a democratic state which is fighting for its life and terrorists who seek to destroy it,” says Vogelman at a swearing-in ceremony for new attorneys.

“The independence of the civil law enforcement system, headed by the attorney general, and the military law enforcement system headed by the military advocate general is one of the foundation stones of the principle of the rule of law,” he adds.

“Attacks directed at the institutions of law and those who head them, accompanied by rule-breaking behavior — like that which we have seen in recent days — is likely to harm the ability of these systems to act independently, objectively and impartially, and erode the democratic foundations of our country.”

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