Chief Justice Blasts Justice Minister

A day after Justice Minister Amir Ohana accused state prosecutors of belonging to a cult dedicated to destroying public officials including Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu‏‏, High Court Chief Justice Esther Hayut struck back, accusing Ohana of politicizing the justice system.

“These are days unprecedented in our political history,” Hayut said in a speech on Wednesday. “The politicization of the justice system could utterly undermine its foundations as an independent system,” she said.

This period “requires us all to stand strong and do our work without fear, with responsibility and good judgment.”

Ohana on Tuesday alleged that “there is a State Attorney’s Office inside the State Attorney’s Office, which conducts a give-and-take relationship with journalists — there are those who would describe it as a relationship of bribery — and leaks to them investigative materials.”

His remarks came in response to alleged misconduct by police investigators who seized phones belonging to Netanyahu aides under investigation for suspected harassment of a state’s witness.