{"id":118846,"date":"2025-02-04T17:05:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T15:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=118846"},"modified":"2025-02-03T11:24:53","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T09:24:53","slug":"01-09-88","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=118846","title":{"rendered":"Activist Supreme Court president voted in, sparking coalition fury"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>Activist Supreme Court president voted in, sparking coalition fury<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h5>\n

David Isaac<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Right-wing lawmakers blasted the selection of Yitzhak Amit as president of the Supreme Court.<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n

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\nSupreme Court Justice Isaac Amit hearing a petition in Jerusalem, April 23, 2023. Photo by Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s Judicial Selection Committee on Sunday elected Justice Yitzhak Amit as president of the Supreme Court, after the position stood vacant for nearly 16 months.<\/span><\/p>\n

Amit\u2019s selection went ahead despite Justice Minister\u00a0Yariv Levin<\/a>\u2018s opposition, sparking outrage among right-wing lawmakers. Following the vote, Levin said he wouldn\u2019t recognize the decision.<\/span><\/p>\n

Economy and Industry Minister Nir Barkat of the Likud Party tweeted: \u201cShame. This is what a full legal coup looks like. The Supreme Court judges appointed a Supreme Court president on their behalf tonight, overriding the elected officials. A black day for Israeli democracy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Finance Minister Smotrich, chairman of the Religious Zionism Party, said: \u201cThe appointment was made in an improper and dictatorial procedure that drains the rest of the public trust in the institution of the Supreme Court. I call on Amit to withdraw and leave the position.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, also of Likud, said: \u201cEveryone understood what the results of the corrupt, shady plan would be. The people will not put up with its oppression. We will dismantle and rebuild the Supreme Court and the prosecutor\u2019s office from the ground up.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Otzma Yehudit Party chairman Itamar Ben-Gvir tweeted: \u201cThe election of Justice Amit as president of the Supreme Court is an attack on democracy and public trust. A person over whom a cloud of [real estate] construction offenses hangs cannot serve in the highest position in the judicial system.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is contempt for the law and for the citizens of the country. The time has come for real reform of the judicial system, which will include replacing the attorney general and eliminating the monopoly on appointing judges,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cWho will judge the judges?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Levin boycotted Sunday\u2019s Judicial Selection Committee session, as did fellow coalition representatives on the committee, Settlements Minister Orit Strook (Religious Zionism) and MK Yitzhak Kreuzer (Otzma Yehudit).<\/span><\/p>\n

The move came after the Supreme Court denied Levin\u2019s request to postpone the vote due to alleged conflict of interest issues surrounding Amit.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Jan. 13, it emerged that Amit had failed to\u00a0disclose<\/a>\u00a0that he was involved in legal proceedings involving Tel Aviv real estate under a different name, which right-wing Israeli lawmakers said amounted to a conflict of interest. They called for an investigation.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a letter Levin sent to Amit, he said: \u201cI intend to continue doing everything in my power to ensure that the election of the president of the Supreme Court will take place only after the examination of all the above-mentioned outstanding claims are completed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Amit replied to Levin that he had no intention of dropping his candidacy for the presidency and viewed the allegations as an \u201corganized defamation campaign \u2026 the whole purpose of which is to thwart my appointment as president of the Supreme Court and to damage the public\u2019s trust in the judiciary.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Amit was buttressed by opposition politicians, who praised his selection.<\/span><\/p>\n

Opposition leader Yair Lapid, leader of the Yesh Atid Party, tweeted, \u201cThe election of Yitzhak Amit as president of the Supreme Court is a victory for democracy and good administration. Unnecessary delay has caused enormous damage to the rule of law in Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI call on Yariv Levin to stop his destructive games and work with the judge to strengthen and restore the legal system. We should be concerned with healing Israeli society, not unnecessary quarrels.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Israeli President Isaac Herzog also welcomed Amit\u2019s election.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor decades and in various courts, Justice Amit has contributed greatly to the Israeli legal system, and I am confident that his many skills and rich experience will play a significant part in leading the Supreme Court and the judiciary with responsibility, discretion and dedication for the benefit of the State of Israel, and in the very important task of raising public confidence in the judicial system,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

It took more than a year for Amit to replace Esther Hayut, the previous Supreme Court president, who retired in October 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n

Levin had resisted convening the Judicial Selection Committee due to his opposition both to the seniority system, whereby the most veteran judge is automatically selected as president, and to Amit, who was the leading candidate under that system.<\/span><\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s High Court of Justice on Sept. 8\u00a0ordered<\/a>\u00a0Levin to convene the Judicial Selection Committee.<\/span><\/p>\n

Levin blasted the ruling at the time, saying, \u201cThe order, in contradiction to the express [text of the] law and given in the face of a serious conflict of interest, constitutes a forceful takeover of the Judicial Selection Committee and the usurpation of the minister\u2019s powers contrary to the law.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Levin added that he wouldn\u2019t work with a judge chosen without his cooperation and in what he considered to be an illegal manner.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe president of the Supreme Court, who is appointed improperly and by force, brings to new depths the declining trust in the court,\u201d he said. \u201cI cannot work with a president who was appointed illegally by his associates, and who is illegitimate in the eyes of a vast public.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Activist Supreme Court president voted in, sparking coalition fury David Isaac Right-wing lawmakers blasted the selection of Yitzhak Amit as president of the Supreme Court. . Supreme Court Justice Isaac Amit hearing a petition in Jerusalem, April 23, 2023. Photo by Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90. Israel\u2019s Judicial Selection Committee on Sunday elected Justice Yitzhak Amit as president […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118846"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=118846"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":119023,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118846\/revisions\/119023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=118846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=118846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=118846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}