Retired Justices Attempt to Heal Friedmann-Beinisch Rift

Retired Supreme Court Justices Aharon Barak and Meir Shamgar met with Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann on Tuesday in an effort to smooth out differences between the

The main purpose was to end the mutual sniping.

minister and the current Supreme Court Chief Justice, Dorit Beinisch. The agenda for the meeting, which took place in Tel Aviv, was not released to the press; however, sources in the justice system said that the main purpose was to end the mutual sniping between Friedmann and Beinisch that exploded into the public arena last week.

Minister Friedmann and Justice Beinisch have been trading vituperative barbs in the media over the system with which judges are appointed. Last week, Justice Beinisch sent a harshly worded letter to the Justice Minister in which she attacks him with unprecedented vitriol and accuses him of causing "strife and discord." The letter, copies of which were sent to representatives of the press, accuses Friedmann of purposely destroying the judicial system's present structure, undermining Beinish's own status and creating a situation in which court presidents are dependent on the justice minister.

Beinisch's ire was aroused by Friedmann's initiative to create independent search committees for District Court and Magistrates' Court presidents and their deputies. The committees, according to the Freidmann plan, would be headed by either a former Supreme Court Chief Justice or a former Justice Minister. Such a system, according to the plan's supporters, would make the judges independent of pressure to conform to the views of the incumbent Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Currently, judges are appointed by a nine-member committee of two ministers, two MKs, two lawyers and three Supreme Court Justices, headed by the Chief Justice.

Beinisch writes that it is "unthinkable" to carry out reforms such as these without consulting with her first. True, the appointments are within Friedmann's purview, she writes, but they require her approval. Therefore, "the legality of the proposed regulations is in doubt, and they fly in the face of the constitutional tradition which the judicial system has followed for many years."

Friedmann's official response to Beinisch's broadside against him was a single sentence.

Justice Minister Friedmann's official response to Beinisch's broadside against him was a single sentence, in which he said that ever since he was appointed Justice Minister, he has been "acting to strengthen and improve the judicial system and to increase the public's faith in it." The unofficial response, attributed to "sources close to Friedmann" or "Friedmann's bureau," was, "We are sorry to read the letter by the Supreme Court President, who chose to answer a topical letter of consultation by the Justice Minister with a press release."

Last month, Friedmann scored a legislative victory of sorts in his efforts to reform the judicial system when the Knesset approved, in a lopsided 45-0-5 vote, a bill he sponsored that limits the term of office of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to seven years. Justice Beinisch and former Justice Barak opposed the bill. The presidents of all other courts in Israel are already bound by term limits.