Conflict between judicial system and Justice Minister continues as court president rejects misconduct claims

While the weapons have fallen silent amid ceasefires in Lebanon and Gaza, the internal political battles between Israel’s judicial system and its right-wing government have strengthened again this week.

After Justice Minister Yariv Levin called on acting Supreme Court president Isaac Amit to pull his candidacy as permanent president due to new media reports revealing he has handled several cases despite ostensible conflicts of interests, Amit publicly attacked Levin on Thursday.

“Recently, an organized and well-timed smear campaign has been underway against me in preparation for the hearing to elect a president of the Supreme Court in the Judicial Selection Committee,” Amit wrote to Levin.

The justice minister had demanded Amit to suspend his candidacy until the allegations against him were clarified, citing precedents from other public offices.

The new clash is also part of a battle over the selection of a new court president, which has been going on for over a year now.

Levin seeks to change the traditional process that awards the presidency to the most senior judge, which is part of an overarching effort to limit the powers of the court and to give the government more authority over it.

He especially opposes the candidacy of Amit, who is seen as a liberal, left-leaning judge.

Amit reiterated the court’s position that Levin has “been avoiding appointing a President of the Supreme Court for about a year and a quarter, in a manner unprecedented in the State of Israel.”

“This is another attempt to avoid appointing me as a permanent President of the Supreme Court, just because I did not agree to discuss the ‘deal’ you offered me – agreement to my appointment in exchange for appointing candidates on your behalf to the Supreme Court,” the judge charged.

Amit emphasized: “My candidacy remains in place and I have no intention of suspending my candidacy on my own initiative.”

In a letter sent to Amit on Wednesday, Levin listed several allegations against the judge that were recently revealed by Israeli media.

“I intend to continue to do everything in my power to ensure that the election of the President of the Supreme Court will be made only after the examination of all the allegations is completed, and all the necessary data will be presented to the committee and will be transparent to the public,” Levin wrote.

For example, Levin cited a Channel 12 report claiming that several years ago, Amit was part of a judicial panel that dealt with a ministerial order to abolish the prestigious “Pool of Directors,” a group of candidates for membership on the boards of directors of Israeli government companies.

Despite his brother Hanoch Goldfreind being a member of this pool, Amit did not recuse himself but issued a ruling that stopped the ministerial order, in effect benefiting his brother.

Amit claims that the ruling was an institutional and not personal matter, that his brother was only one out of 400 people who benefited from it, and that his membership was due to expire the next year anyway.

However, Goldfreind was reelected to the pool the following year.

Levin listed several additional examples of Amit taking part in cases that could constitute a conflict of interest, including several more which involved his brother.

The next showdown in the conflict between Levin and the judicial system is due next Sunday, when the latest deadline issued by the court for Levin to convene the Judicial Selection Committee expires.