Opponents of Judicial Overhaul Step Up Attacks, Take to Streets

By Hamodia Staff

YERUSHALAYIM — Israel saw another round of protests against the government’s judicial overhaul plan on Thursday, as former attorneys general signed a letter opposing it and hundreds of lawyers took to the streets, with more to come over the weekend.

Almost all the attorneys general and state attorneys in Israel since 1975 signed a letter denouncing the sweeping reforms proposed by Justice Minister Yariv Levin, saying it “threatens to destroy the justice system,” The Times of Israel reported, calling it “unprecedented.”

Signatories included former attorneys general Avichai Mandelblit and Yehuda Weinstein; retired Supreme Court chiefs Aharon Barak and Dorit Beinisch; and retired Supreme Court justices Yitzhak Zamir, Elyakim Rubinstein, Meni Mazuz, Edna Arbel and Michael Ben-Yair.

“We, who served as attorneys general or state attorneys from 1975 until recently, were shocked to hear Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s plan for changes to the judicial system. We are convinced that this plan does not herald the improvement of the system, but threatens to destroy it,” the letter reads.

“The plan proposes change to the method for appointing judges, thus turning the Supreme Court from an independent institution that rules without fear and without bias into a quasi-political body that will be suspected of using the law in a biased manner in favor of the government; it significantly limits the authority of the court to exercise effective criticism of the government so that it does not abuse its power; it allows a coalition majority to legalize any act of the government, no matter how wrong and harmful it may be, by means of an override clause; it may impede the function of the ministries’ legal advisers as gatekeepers whose job it is to warn against illegal decisions,” the letter charged.

The co-signers called on the government to withdraw the plan.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu‏‏ on Wednesday night defended the proposed changes, saying “We are not weakening the judicial system, we are strengthening all our systems, democracy and the rule of law that are all dependent on the correct balance between institutions.

“This balance that we find in all countries around the world has been somewhat broken in Israel, as you know, and we have to return it in a responsible way and that’s what we will do,” he said.

Addressing the furor over the issue that has had the country in its grip in recent days, he continued: “If I’m already talking about this I would like to appeal for calm in the public discourse. The state will not be destroyed, democracy will not be obliterated.”

Evidently not reassured by Netanyahu, hundreds of lawyers gathered in front of the courts in Yerushalayim, Tel Aviv, Haifa and Nazareth, to warn against the move.

High Court Chief Justice Esther Hayut told the Israeli Association of Public Law Conference in Haifa on Thursday night that the reforms “are designed to cover up the true motives of those proposing these changes, and that is the desire for the total politicization of judicial appointments in Israel, by creating a Judicial Selection Committee in which politicians will have an automatic majority.”

Hayut said further it “is not a plan to fix the justice system but a plan to crush it.” Adopting the proposed changes, she said, would bring a “change in the country’s democratic identity.”

Speaking at the same gathering, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara alleged that the changes would create an “imbalanced system of checks and balances,” and that “the principle of majority rule will push other democratic values into a corner.”

In response, Minister Levin accused Hayut, who is supposed to be an impartial judge, of setting up a political party allied with the Lapid-led opposition.

“It turns out that there is another party in Israel. A party that did not run in the elections that were held only two months ago, who placed herself above the Knesset, above the decision of the people,” said Levin. “Tonight we heard familiar rhetoric from the black flag protests. It’s the same political agenda, it’s the same call to set the streets on fire.”

“We didn’t hear statehood, we didn’t hear neutrality. We did not hear a balanced legal position. We heard statements from politicians inciting protesters,” he said.

“This is the best proof that the legal system has lost its way,” Levin said, referring to Hayut’s speech.

“Democracy is not the tyranny of the minority, imposing its values on the majority through its control of the legal system. The rule of the judge is the opposite of a reformed democracy,” he said.

 “There are no democracies in which judges choose themselves [as in Israel] and interfere with basic laws on their own accord.”

However, he concluded his remarks by promising “a comprehensive dialogue with representatives of all sectors of the people in order to reach the most balanced and beneficial result.”

United Torah Judaism MK Yitzhak Pindrus sent a letter to the Ombudsman of the State Representatives in the Courts after the speech, claiming Hayut violated the ethics rules of judges.

“In the past, you called to consider removing the Chief Rabbi of Israel for expressing himself in a similar way… I am confident that you will not act with bias this time, you will reprimand the president and perhaps even publicly call for her removal.”

Police were bracing for mass demonstrations in Tel Aviv and Yerushalayim, according to media reports.

Walla news said that police held a meeting on how to handle the protests together with National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

The police issued a statement afterwards, saying that while it is every citizen’s right to protest, intel predictions raise concern of disorder. In order for us to ensure the safety of the public and protest, Israel Police is calling once again on the demonstrators and the organizers to maintain order and allow the protests to take place in a legal manner,” the message read.

Tens of thousands are expected to turn out, including opposition figures, under the banner, “Fighting the Coup D’état,” The Jerusalem Post reported.

“The intentions of the coalition and Netanyahu to carry out a coup d’état, in a hurried and chaotic manner, while violating the most basic values of the Declaration of Independence and refusing to dialogue over broad agreements, is dangerous for the State of Israel,” National Unity party leader Benny Gantz wrote on social media.

Gantz, Labor chairwoman MK Merav Michaeli, Ra’am chairman Mansour Abbas.

Amid warnings of “the end of democracy” and a “civil war” if the government doesn’t back down, President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu‏‏ have called for calm.