Supreme Court President Esther Hayut
Supreme Court President Esther HayutOren Ben Hakoon/POOL

Transportation Minister Miri Regev (Likud) and MKs Osnat Mark (Likud) and Tzvi Hauser (Derech Eretz) boycotted Sunday evening’s meeting of the Knesset’s Committee for Judicial Appointments, in order to block the appointment of Judge Abbas Assi to the Jerusalem District Court.

The three right-wing representatives intended that their absence should prevent the committee attaining the necessary quorum for pushing through the appointment, even though Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn and the President of the Supreme Court Esther Hayut decided to convene the committee regardless.

Speaking on Galei Tzahal, MK Assaf Zamir (Blue & White) attacked the move of the three right-wing committee members, saying, “If the opposite had occurred, and the left wing had a majority on the committee, they would have called out the appointment they made as anti-democratic, and would not have accepted the results. That’s what should happen now, too.”

Minister for Environmental Protection Gila Gamliel (Likud) supported the absence of the three from the committee meeting, however, saying that, “Even when the right wing had control of the committee, we sought to obtain the consent of all the committee’s members for decisions that were made. At the present time, we should be continuing in that manner, and it is simply a shame that we have reached such a situation as the one we are now seeing.”

The right wing is demanding that the appointment of Assi be blocked, due to previous rulings of his that have been perceived as slanted in favor of Arabs and to the detriment of Jews.