Sa’ar says judicial overhaul legislation can be passed within a month
Foreign minister claims 70 MKs back far-reaching bill to change judicial appointments process, as report claims Justice Minister Levin aims to ram law through in next two weeks
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said Monday that he believes the controversial judicial overhaul legislation he and Justice Minister Yariv Levin have proposed to change Israel’s judicial selection process can be passed within the next month.
Speaking in the Knesset during a faction meeting of his New Hope party, Sa’ar claimed there were at least 70 MKs in Knesset who support the bill, and said there was no reason why deliberations on the far-reaching measure in the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee should go beyond another month.
Sa’ar’s comments followed a report by Channel 12 news on Sunday that Levin is intent on ramming through the legislation in the next two weeks.
A source close to Levin denied that report, however, and said the legislative process for the bill could not be finished by the end of the month.
Levin and Sa’ar’s bill would switch out the two Israel Bar Association representatives of the nine-member Judicial Selection Committee and replace them with two lawyers, one to be appointed by the coalition and one by the opposition.
Appointments to the lower courts would be made by a simple majority, but would need at least one vote each from committee representatives of the coalition, opposition and the Supreme Court. Appointments to the Supreme Court would need at least one vote from the coalition and opposition, but not require a vote from a Supreme Court justices.
This would give the coalition and opposition representatives veto power over all appointments to the lower courts and the Supreme Court, while significantly reducing the influence of the three Supreme Court justices on the committee.
Critics, including former Supreme Court justices, a former justice minister, and the Knesset Constitution committee’s legal adviser have all said that the reforms would greatly politicize the judicial appointments process, and by extension the judiciary itself. Proponents, including Sa’ar and Levin, have insisted, however, that the legislation would ensure the judiciary and its decisions would better reflect the will of the electorate than the current system.
Israel has no constitution and its legislature is controlled by the majority coalition, so the independent judiciary is the only brake on government abuse.
Asked by The Times of Israel on Monday whether the bill can be passed in the next month, Sa’ar responded, “Why not?” stating that the deliberation process in the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee need not take very much time.
“One month must be enough in order to complete the discussion and bring it to a third [and final] reading [in the Knesset plenum,” said Sa’ar of the highly sensitive legislation, which would significantly change Israel’s constitutional arrangement.
According to the Channel 12 report, once the Judicial Selection Committee is passed, Levin intends to move ahead with the process of removing Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara from office.
Baharav-Miara has drawn the government’s ire by opposing key legislation proposed by the coalition, objecting to cabinet resolutions and government appointments on a regular basis, and ordering investigations against cabinet ministers, prime ministerial aides, and other individuals connected to the government.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Levin, and numerous other ministers who have repeatedly call for her sacking, with Netanyahu telling Levin to “find a solution” to the issue back in November.
In order to remove an attorney general from office, a standing, five-member committee, also responsible for appointing the attorney general, must be consulted. That committee is currently lacking both a representative from the government and from the Knesset.
Those appointments are expected to be fairly straightforward, meaning that the process for dismissing the attorney general could take place relatively rapidly, if and when the government decides it is intent on such an action.
