The Judge Selection Committee met for the first time in over a year in Jerusalem Friday morning. The committee did not make appointments to the courts in Friday's session, but will probably do so in its next session, two weeks from now.
One of the committee’s nine members, Bar Association representative Attorney Pinchas Marinsky, who is considered to be close to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, said Friday that he does not expect arguments over appointments to the Magistrates and District courts. However, when it comes to appointments to the Supreme Court – the political views of the committee’s members will come into play, he said.
Israel news photo: Flash 90
Initial setback for Beinisch
The committee’s new makeup, following the appointment of new government and Knesset representatives following the elections, is considered much more nationalist and traditionalist than previous ones. In particular, the appointment of MK Uri Ariel as the Knesset Opposition representative last week reportedly sent Chief Justice Dorit Beinisch into “a state of shock” because it meant that representatives of her left-of-center views would be in the minority for the firsttime in recent memory.
While Justice Minister Yaakov Ne’eman has stated that he intends to cooperate with Beinisch instead of working against her, the committee made at least one decision Friday that was contrary to Beinisch’s position: from now on, it decided, candidates for judgeship will undergo personality tests as part of the judge training course, and the course will be accompanied by a psychologist who will evaluate the candidates' personalities.
The initiative for the personality testing was put forth by Marinsky.
Legal system for 'leftists only'
MK Ariel called the new committee makeup “a winning team” Friday. He voiced hope that the committee would be able to man all of the vacant judges’ positions. “The caseload on judges is great and there is a miscarriage of justice,” he explained. “The Israeli people deserve a better situation in the courts. You and the public will judge the committee based upon the results,” he told journalists. Ariel said he was glad to see that minister Ne’eman wasted no time in convening the committee and said that he sees “no reason for discord” among its members.
MK Rotem said that the committee’s immediate goal is to select professional and efficient judges. “I think that the President wants this, too,” he said, referring to Beinisch [the Chief Justice is referred to as Supreme Court President – ed.]. “The political identity of a judge is unimportant,” he added.
However, earlier this week Rotem spoke differently. “Whoever does not hold leftist political views is disqualified from partaking in the legal system,” he said in a session of the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, which he chairs. “The Justice System belongs to people who live in a certain place, with a certain skin color and certain political views.”
On Friday he explained that he made this statement because “after my selection [to the Judge Selection Committee] there were people who thought I had robbed the legal system. My statement was meant for them.”