Ester Hayot
Ester HayotFlash90

The Judicial Selection Committee is expected to choose Justice Esther Hayut to serve as the next Chief Justice of Israel's Supreme Court this Tuesday.

Justice Hayut is next in line to replace retiring Supreme Court President Miriam Naor as the longstanding custom is to appoint the Chief Justice on the basis of seniority.

In anticipation of the upcoming appointment, the "Legal Forum for a Zionist and Democratic Israel" is reviving the campaign against what it says is the "disconnected [from the people] conduct" of the Supreme Court and its justices.

The forum criticized outgoing Chief Justice Naor's conduct in particular in light of the revelations that she possesses a confidential database of information on judges and potential judges. The forum demanded that the incoming president of the court be given the database so that its contents may be exposed.

The campaign was launched several days ago and criticized what it called the 'friend brings a friend' method of selecting justices, as well as the conduct of the Supreme Court, which it accuses of applying double standards to the justices themselves.

The legal forum noted that "gathering the material on candidates for judicial purposes in order to continue locating 'cloned' candidates that match the agenda of the Supreme Court justices is grave and unacceptable."

"Now that the database is about to be transferred to the incoming authority, Justice Esther Hayut is called upon to clear the suspicion of the secret database of judges whose existence was exposed during the period of Justice Naor's term. Once you sit at the head of the justicial system, it is your chance to prove to the public that the court which is responsible for doing justice is a model of transparency and proper conduct, even internally."