The Chairman of the Constitution Committee, MK Simcha Rothman, caused an uproar at the legal conference on the Bar Association's Judicial Selection Committee after he answered the question of whether he would respect the High Court ruling.
"I think that in a country of law everyone, but
everyone, should respect the law," Rothman said. "It will be a sad day if a judicial institution acts against the law. If the court is bound by the law, I will respect every ruling of the court that is bound by the law."
The head of the Bar Association, Adv. Amit Becher, stopped the discussion due to chants from the audience and said: "I think the Bar Association should invest in and hear all opinions. I am also outraged by some of these things, and to those who shouted - our answer to the claims about non-Zionist positions is the selection of attorney Mohammad Naamana to the committee for selecting judges. The protest is heard and will be heard again, please let us finish the session with dignity."
Attorney Eyal Rozovski commented: "Rotman's answer was this - we want to change the law, in the meantime, we passed a first reading and until we complete the drafting of the law, we have the right not to convene the committee. The chairman of the constitutional committee comes and talks about democracy, and actually uses democratic terms to damage and destroy democracy. This is mafia behavior."
MK Karine Elharer (Yesh Atid) and a member of the Committee for the Selection of Judges responded to the exchange: "MK Rothman is not alone, the Prime Minister also did not commit to respecting the ruling of the Supreme Court, Minister Levin did not commit either. The crisis is already here. The very fact that they don't commit - it's shocking. There is no limit to their hypocrisy. This government decided to destroy democracy. They are damaging everything that has been built here for 75 years."
Adv. Mohammad Naamana, Chairman of the Northern District of the Bar Association and a member of the Committee for the Appointment of Judges responded: "During the entire 3 years that I have been in office, I am not interested in what any person thinks politically, he has to be excellent legally, that is the first condition. The condition The second is that we strive for diversity. We at the bar want to see judges from the periphery, the developing towns, Arabs and Jews. We do not need to change the system for the court to be trustworthy. What is happening now, some people do not want to see it - this is not the way. There is always the possibility to examine the issue, and if it is necessary to correct it, then we sit down and reach a broad agreement."
MK Yitzhak Kroizer (Otzma Yehudit), a member of the Committee for the Selection of Judges, answered: "Our good news to the great public that elected us will be the change in the composition of the Committee for the Selection of Judges. There is no doubt that the new composition, we will work to build it with as broad a consensus as possible for the benefit of all citizens of the State of Israel and the Israeli democracy that is important to all of us."
Attorney Bruria Lekner responded: "Politicization of the judicial system is equal to politicization of the committee, eliminate the politicization and preserve the committee. There is no liberal state without an independent judicial system."